His Father's Eyes
by VirtualDraconium
Summary: The complete tale of Beyond Birthday, from the origin of his eyes, his time at Whammy’s, and the LABB murder case, as seen by the shinigami who started everything. ON HIATUS.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N:** Here's the first chapter of my new story, which tells the tale of Beyond Birthday, however he's not going to be in it for a while, because there's a bit of back-story I want to build up first (B arrives around chapter 5ish). So this first chapter focus's on certain events in the shinigami realm. Enjoy!

(Oh, and reviews would be nice, I curious to know what people think of this idea before I carry on)

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Death Note.

* * *

Ryuk had always told Natrat he was too soft for a shinigami. That his policy on which human's he should kill to gain lifespan would be the death of him. And yet he persisted, killing only those who would imminently take life and thus most likely shorten their own by gaining a death sentence of human origin. He said he would only take lives that would otherwise be squandered in a stupid manner, and only when he needed to. Ryuk thought that was stupid, what if he lost his Death Note for a couple of dozen years as some shinigami were wont to do, he would run out of life that's what. Ryuk thought his behaviour was altogether too human-like for a supposed god of death and so had little to do with him, up to the point his existence to a more interesting turn when he got a little too involved with humanity.

Natrat was of small stature for a shinigami, and he did look as soft as his personality was described. He had big ragged ears, and his head was covered by a layer of brown-black fur, which was thinner over his face, which frequently bore an optimistic smile, in contrast with the creepy grins the rest of the shinigami sporadically wore. His body had a human like frame, but with very long arms and fingers, which made his legs look disproportionately short. He wore a pendant of some form around his neck, his right ear was pierced and on his left arm he wore what appeared to be one manacle from a pair of handcuffs, with part of the chain still dangling. His wings were mammalian, and he held them folded close to his back when they weren't in use. Like many shinigami he wore his Death Note in a holster on his right hip.

Ryuk watched as the shinigami crouched at the human-world viewing-hole, death note held open in his hand pen poised, as his eyes followed whatever was going on with interest. He crept over and peered over the smaller Death God's shoulder at the scene going on somewhere in the human world. He watched as a dark haired man appeared at the mouth of an alley, his eyes focused on the woman who was walking along it, facing away from him, unaware.

"Are you gonna kill that guy?" asked Ryuk.

Natrat glanced up briefly, acknowledging the presence of the other shinigami, but didn't speak in answer to Ryuk's query. Instead, after another brief glance at the human realm, he scratched the man's name into his notebook, and then flipped to the back adding a number to a list at the back. Like a few others Natrat liked to keep track of the lifespan he was gaining from his victims, in his case probably due to his desire to take as few lives as possible, and only when needed. Unsurprisingly Ryuk wasn't one of those. His laziness meant he preferred to go by guesswork. Natrat flipped the notebook shut and watched as down in the human realm the man approached the female, calling out in a drunken slur and raising his knife threateningly. The woman screamed and called out for someone to save her. Just then the man dropped the knife and grasped at his chest, meeting the woman's eyes with an expression of shock, before falling at her feet. The woman backed away from the man's body slowly then turned and ran from the scene.

"Nice," said Ryuk. "I always thought you were a bit dull, but now it turns out you have an inclination towards dramatic events."

"It's not that," murmured the shinigami. "It's the fact that I only want to take lives that would otherwise be squandered. That guy… if he'd carried on with what he was going to do, he'd have been locked up by the other humans for the rest of his life, so I don't feel bad for taking what he would have wasted anyway."

"But won't you get in trouble. You did save the live of that human female, I saw her lifespan it was about to end."

"I didn't do it for her so I can't be punished. Out interference always affects the lives of other humans, just not always so dramatically."

"Wonder what she'll do now," pondered Ryuk, "with her extra lifespan…"

"I'm not bothered" said Natrat. "I'm done with the human realm for another few years." He stood, stretching out his wings. "See you later Ryuk." He added before he flew off.

"Could be interesting." Ryuk muttered to himself, sparing the scene one last glance before he also flew off to find one of the shinigami realm's pathetic excuse for an apple.

* * *

Some hours later Ryuk's curiosity had dragged him back to the viewing hole and he was focusing on the woman he'd seen earlier. Having memorised her name and face earlier he was able to find her with ease. He watched, rather bored as she met up with another human and went out for dinner. He was vaguely amused when she recounted the story of what happened to her earlier, especially when she told her companion that she must have an angel watching over her, who had protected her from the bad man, which had Ryuk howling with laughter, whilst her companion smiled fondly.

Wanting to share his amusing discovery, Ryuk flew off to find Natrat, who was engaged in one of the shinigami's most frequent past-times, gambling, or at least playing cards, not having much to gamble, with Jealous, a shinigami possibly even more worthless than Natrat himself in Ryuk's eyes.

"Hey, Natrat" called Ryuk, pausing to give one of his characteristic _hyuk-hyuk_'s, whilst waiting for the other to pay attention. "You have to come and see this."

Natrat gave the cackling shinigami a plaintive stare, before sighing and standing up to follow. Jealous gave Ryuk a nervous look, before following on some distance behind. "What is it Ryuk?"

"You'll see."

Natrat followed in baffled silence as they approached the viewing pool. "What've you seen Ryuk?"

The three shinigami settled in front of the pool before Ryuk answered. "It's the human you saved earlier. Beatrice Boeingfield was her name I think."

"I didn't 'save' her. She just happened to get rescued…" said Natrat, somewhat unconvincingly.

"Well whatever you did, it's making her act very amusingly."

"Great," muttered Jealous "it's not more of your human circus is it?"

"Nah," said Ryuk, "just watch."

The three shinigami waited as the murky surface of the pool cleared to show a view into the woman's bedroom. She was knelt by her bed, dressed for sleep, her head bowed and her palms pressed firmly together, in the stereotypical image of prayer. Her long blonde hair had been released and fell in a cascade over her shoulders and partway down her back. Her eyes, which would have been a greyish green, were softly closed.

"She's pretty." said Jealous earning him a sharp look from Ryuk, who secretly believed that the small shinigami's infatuation with humans, females in particular, would probably lead him into getting too involved and doing something stupid. Although at present it wasn't Jealous he had to worry about.

"What's she doing?" asked Natrat, peering down at the woman with intrigue.

"She's praying" said Ryuk with a brief chuckle. "Foolish human past-time. They believe they'll be heard by their god, and if he likes 'em he'll help them out with their silly mortal problems. Think it'll get them into heaven or something."

"How stupid" said Jealous, "don't they know that they only have their time on Earth and then it's Nothingness for them?"

"Ssh!" hissed Natrat, "I'm trying to listen."

As the others fell silent, and he craned forward slightly, Natrat was finally able to hear the voice of the woman in the pool.

"…and be sure to thank most graciously whichever of your angels was watching over me earlier, for without them hearing my cry for help, I would surely not be here now."

"Ya hear that Natty!" cried Ryuk "she's thinks you're an angel" the shinigami descended into raucous peals of laughter, whilst Jealous gave him a faint look of despair.

"I heard" said Natrat quietly, staring in shock at the woman in the pool below.

"That's kinda sweet" said Jealous.

"It's hilarious. Natrat don't look anything like an angel. I've seen what humans think they look like, they're all white and gold and shiny. All he's got in common with them is a set of wings and that might be pushing it."

Natrat stared down in silence as the woman climbed into the bed and fell asleep. Ryuk, annoyed that he couldn't get more of a response out of the shinigami, shrugged, already bored, and flew off to spread the amusing new story amongst the other shinigami. Jealous sat with the stupefied shinigami for a little while, before he too left to do something less dull than watch a mortal woman sleeping.

* * *

It was a short while later, by shinigami standards at any rate, and Ryuk was sitting playing cards with a couple of other death gods, namely Gukku and Deridovely. His mind appeared to be elsewhere.

"Oi," started Ryuk, looking up from his cards at the other two. "You seen Natrat lately?"

"Why?" replied the cow-skulled shinigami. "He owe ya money?"

"Nah, I just haven't seen him 'round lately."

"Well I ain't seen him since ya got him watching the human world." said Deridovely, twining his bandages between his fingers impatiently.

"Ya reckon he's still doing that?" asked Ryuk. "It's been nearly a month."

"If ya that bothered why don't ya go find out" said Gukku

"Yeah, if you're losing to Gukku then I'd give up anyway" said Deridovely.

Ignoring Gukku's protests that he wasn't _that_ bad, Ryuk nodded to his fellow shinigami and stood to leave. "Maybe I will," he said as he stretched out his wings and took to the air.

Ryuk flew away from the gambling shinigami towards the human viewing pools. If he was honest, which in general he wasn't, he would have admitted the only reason he'd asked was because he was bored, bored of playing endless games of cards with the same boring company with the same boring small talk. Thus he'd decided to search out for amusement elsewhere. Since Natrat had somehow unwittingly provided this only a short time ago, Ryuk figured he might be worth trying again.

As expected Ryuk spotted Natrat crouched in front of a viewing pool. He flew overhead, purposefully casting his shadow across Natrat as he descended, to signal his approach. Natrat glanced up to acknowledge the other shinigami, and sat back from the pool, as if he didn't want Ryuk to watch what was going on.

"Hey Natty,"

"Hello Ryuk"

"You still watching that human woman? Not bored yet."

"Yes and no."

"And to think you used to tell me off for deriving entertainment from humans. You're looking a bit of a hypocrite now." snickered Ryuk.

"I'm not, 'deriving entertainment' from her." Natrat glared at Ryuk "Not all of us find every action that goes on down there ridiculous or amusing. Some of us actual have the capacity to be serious once in a while."

"Don't be offended with me. I just thought it was funny."

"That's your problem Ryuk, you never take anything seriously."

"I do! If I didn't take some things seriously my life span would've run out years ago."

"Ok, so you take killing seriously. You're a shinigami! What would you be if you didn't?"

"That's not all! I take apples very seriously. Even if the ones up here aren't very nice…" he trailed off, seeing the incredulous look on Natrat's face.

"Death and apples. That's it, that's all you have Ryuk. And the other shinigami round here aren't much better. We all live our lives without any sort of purpose, and I'm fed up of just existing like that."

"We haven't had a purpose for thousands of years Natrat, and we've got on just fine without it. I don't understand what's brought this on. Is this because of your human?"

"She's not 'my' human!"

"You are stalking her though."

"I'm not! I'm just watching over her…"

"…" Ryuk stared open-mouthed at the other death god. "'Watching over her'? Now you sound like you think your one of her angels" he cackled.

"I don't see why I can't be if that's what she wants to believe."

"I'm not gonna even tell you how stupid that is. How are you supposed to watch over her? You know it's against the rules to intentionally save the life of a human. No-one even knows what the punishment is for breaking that rule, because so far no-ones been stupid enough to try it."

"I'm not going to save her life. I've already done that much unintentionally and I know that doing it again would not be smart. I don't need you to tell me that."

"So, why are you 'watching over' her? If you can't do anything to help her, not that I know why you'd want to in the first place, I don't get what the point is."

"I'm not sure… it's something to do anyway, it's not like there's anything better to do up here…" Natrat's answer sounded uncertain, as if his was trying to make up a believable lie, not wanting to reveal or perhaps not yet understanding his true motives.

"Right," replied Ryuk, bemused by the shinigami's nervous response. "Just so long as you stay up here. Travelling to the human realm may not be against the rules, but there's nothing down there that you can't see from up here." _At least, _he thought, _I can watch you up here, but if you go down there, it won't be as fun since you can't hear me teasing you._

"I guess that's true…" said Natrat, somewhat wistfully. "But still I can't help but think I'd get a better understanding of humans if I could see them up close."

"It's not worth it." said Ryuk standing, "well I'll leave you to your 'watching' then. See ya around buddy!" and with that Ryuk promptly left the other shinigami to resume his own devices, not sure if it was a good idea to leave him without supervision.


	2. Chapter 2

****

A/N: Thanks to those people who reviewed/faved/alerted this story, if you're reading this you're one of those few wonderful people who motivated me to write more of this!

Here's Chapter 2, which for some reason I had real difficulty getting started on. I guess I'm impatient to get to the stuff with Beyond, and I haven't thought so much about the early stuff. Also Ryuk is really difficult to write...

**Disclaimer: I don't own Death Note...**

* * *

Ryuk was undecided on his thoughts on Natrat. One side of him thought it was amusing. Another part, a soft voiced and highly outspoken part, (since who would have thought there was more than one aspect to his personality?), told him he should be feeling guilty, after all the other was highly likely to get into some form of trouble due to his latest obsession, which was Ryuk's fault. He attempted to silence that voice by shrugging his shoulders and shaking his head slightly. Surely Natrat wasn't stupid enough to take this too far? So long as he was only watching and not interfering he would be fine. Besides sitting here worrying about that guy was too much effort, so he might as well just go visit him, so that that pesky inner voice of his would shut up on seeing nothing was wrong.

He knew where to find the shinigami; of course, he would be located exactly where he had been for the last month and a half, fixed in place at the observation holes, watching his beloved human. So that was the first place Ryuk looked, and he was very surprised to find no trace of the guy, apart from faint imprints in the sand, not yet wiped out by the wind, from where he'd practically ingrained himself into the scenery to sit and watch. Ryuk was puzzled by this development, and briefly considered the possibility that Natrat had got bored and given up on watching the human realm. He didn't consider this likely, since Natrat's attention span was much greater than his and he'd seemed very sincere about his latest pastime.

He flew off to scan a few other areas of the shinigami realm which he considered likely places for a shinigami of Natrat's type to have travelled to. He had no luck until he spotted the small form of Jealous talking to Rem. He knew Jealous was a friend of Natrat's and had taken to spending several hours each day with the other at the observation pool. Ryuk didn't exactly approve of this, Jealous was a very impressionable shinigami and he didn't want the guy to get any stupid ideas. But if anyone round here knew where the absent shinigami was, it would be him. Ryuk landed a short distance from the other two, and approached warily, since Rem could hardly be described as his biggest fan.

"Uh, hey guys," he started. Rem glared at him and said nothing, Jealous however turned to look at him, an expression of anguish stamped across his mismatched features. "What's up with you Jealous? You seen that idiot Natrat anywhere?"

If anything Rem's expression worsened and Jealous spared her a nervous glance before answering Ryuk. "I'm worried about him, Ryuk. He said some crazy stuff when I saw him yesterday, about needing to help that woman he's been watching, and I haven't seen him since. I'm afraid that he might have gone to the human realm."

"That can't be good." muttered Ryuk.

"You do realize that this is entirely your fault." Rem scolded. "If you hadn't told him that woman was acting strangely, he would never have found out and developed this insane obsession of his." Ryuk shifted uneasily under the glare of the white shinigami. "And don't try to tell me you didn't, because I already got the full story from Jealous and he's considerably more honest than you are."

"I didn't mean him to. I just thought it was funny and wanted to share, ain't that right Jealous?"

"I guess you didn't mean any harm." said Jealous quietly.

"He never does," snapped Rem, "and yet it always seems to end in trouble. Ryuk, if you weren't so incompetent and I thought you could manage it, I'd throw you down into the human realm to bring him back. I'd go, but I haven't the faintest idea where he would have gone, because I've been trying to avoid getting involved. You know the name of the human he's stalking so you can go find her in the viewing holes. If he's following her you can keep an eye on him from there. I don't think he'll drop his Death Note, that's practically equal to suicide, and he doesn't have a second, so he can't stay down there too long. He should be back in a couple of days. If you don't, I'll find out a way to cut off your apple supply for good."

Ryuk looked at Rem with abject horror. "You wouldn't!"

"I would. I don't care about your stupid withdrawals. I'll be elsewhere, avoiding you."

Ryuk stood with his mouth hanging wide open for several long seconds, as if weighing up actually doing something for someone else against the possibility of being cut off from his beloved apples for an indeterminate period of time. Eventually he closed his mouth and nodded at Rem with a pained expression. "Ok, I'll do it."

"Jealous will go with you to keep an eye on you."

"What? You don't trust me?"

"…" both Rem and Jealous stared at the grinning shinigami with identical expressions. "No I really don't," said Rem. "Now go and find him. I've got something important to do, so I'll come find you later."

She flew off, not sparing a backwards glance at the other two, who after a few moments of awkward silence, flew off in the other direction.

* * *

Ryuk stared down into the fuzzy vision of the human realm that lay before him in confusion. It _should_ have been showing him the image of Natrat's human, but no matter how hard he focused, the image wouldn't clear and show Ryuk what was happening.

"Her name was Beatrice Boeingfield right? I'm not remembering it wrong?"

"No, that was her name, I remember... why? Isn't it working?" queried Jealous.

"No it's not, and I don't know why. You have a go."

As Ryuk shuffled backwards away from his position at the edge of the pool, the smaller shinigami leant forwards and stared into the pool, focusing intently on the name, whilst picturing her face in his mind as vividly as he could. An image flickered momentarily, but it refused to come back. Jealous sat back and looked up at Ryuk.

"Why isn't it working?"

"I dunno. I mean it's the right name, and she's still alive, unless Natrat's completely messed up whatever it is he was trying to do. It should work, the only conditions are knowing the name and face, and them being alive. I don't understand at all, except that Rem's probably not gonna be too happy with me."

The pair sat in silence for a while, Ryuk pondering whether failing to find the human in question counted towards Rem's no-apple threat, whilst Jealous struggled to remember the _exact_ circumstances behind Natrat's disappearance. He'd told Rem a little earlier, but to be honest he didn't remember what had happened in the human world very clearly.

"Do you think the fact that we can't find her might have something to with why he went? Like maybe he couldn't find her and went down to see if she was alright?" asked Ryuk.

Jealous shook his head. "He was watching her just fine when he said all that stuff yesterday, so that can't be it, and her lifespan had a while left so she's not dead. Maybe something happened to her and her face has changed?"

"You mean like in an accident? Maybe…" Ryuk paused. "What was it Rem went to do?"

"I think she went to talk to Nu."

"Ah," acknowledged Ryuk, before an uncomfortable silence settled over the two once more. Nu was the highest ranked shinigami apart from the old man, the shinigami king himself. Rem going to talk to her did not bode well.

* * *

Some hours later, Rem joined them at the pool looking worried. Ryuk warily inquired as to why she'd been to visit Nu straight away, before Rem found out they'd failed, and subsequently refused to speak to him.

"I talked to her about Natrat of course. I wanted to know if he's in trouble with the boss, and whether we'd get in trouble for getting involved."

"And?" asked Ryuk.

"It seems he hasn't technically broken any rules yet, so he's fine for now. But I'm still concerned about him. What's he been up to?"

"Not a clue, Rem, sorry." said Jealous.

"The pool won't show us what's going on. You're not gonna cut my apple supply off are you? We tried…" Ryuk trailed off as Rem sighed with disappointment. Ryuk relaxed as he realized that Rem was not going to shout at him for being incompetent.

"Well from what I've heard about the situation, that's not entirely unexpected."

"It's not?"

Rem gave the other two a bland look, wondering _why_, when they knew more about the situation than she did, merely by having actually talked to Natrat and seeing this human he was infatuated with, whilst she had only heard about it second hand, why couldn't they figure out why they couldn't find her. She knew she was more intelligent than either of them, but it surely wasn't _that_ difficult to figure out since she came to the conclusion so quickly.

"What situation?" asked Ryuk, suddenly realizing that he didn't actually know what had happened to make Natrat go to the human world in the first place. Surely Jealous knew something, he'd been there at the time, and even if he hadn't been peering down into the human world, surely he'd heard Natrat say something. How else could Rem have figured whatever it was out?

Rem sniggered. Ryuk had been sitting here with Jealous for how long? And he hadn't bothered to find out why Natrat had gone to the human world? Honestly, she knew he wasn't the sharpest shinigami around, but this was reaching new lows of thoughtlessness on his part.

"She was seriously upset about something. I think she found out something about that guy she was always hanging about with." said Jealous. "Yeah, that was it. And she was thinking about not doing something as a result. But she didn't know what to do and she didn't have anyone she wanted to talk to about it. And then Natrat said that what good was he, sitting up here, knowing full well what was going on and not being able to do anything about it. And that she shouldn't _not_ do whatever it was, and he wanted to help. He was very agitated."

"Do you think he'll have revealed himself to her?" asked Ryuk.

"Maybe…" said Jealous "I don't know…"

"Well that wouldn't be good for him or for her. Just imagine, she thinks she might getting some sort of angelic guidance and he turns up." Ryuk laughed. "How disappointing would that be? But seriously, I don't get why any of that means we can't find her."

"Me neither." muttered Jealous.

"Well, I'm not going to tell you. Consider it punishment." said Rem, turning her nose up at the other two smugly.

"What for!" exclaimed Jealous, shocked and disappointed by Rem's reluctance to share.

"For not trying to stop him going on your part. And Ryuk, for starting this display of absurdity in the first place. I hope Natrat will be back soon, and I'm sure he'll tell you then. Until then I'll leave you two to bask in your ignorance."

* * *

**A/N: Well, I was going to write more, but it's more fun for me if I**** stop there and leave people to speculate. It's pretty obvious, at least from where I'm standing, but I don't know how well I portrayed it. But it's something that occured to me pretty early on in Death Note, about what would happen if... well, you'll either figure it out or you'll have to wait and see.**


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: I started writing this whilst I was trapped in my room on sunday. The mechanism in the door handle twisted and stuck and the door wouldn't open. It would've been annoying, since it's a fairly new door, but I found it fairly amusing, especially when my brother climbed on the roof of the garage to pass me a cup of tea through the window. They eventually got me out by using a saw to cut through the thingy. Anyway getting locked in my room made me start writing this earlier than planned, and therefore finishing it earlier than planed.

Disclaimer: I don't own Death Note…

* * *

Natrat returned to the shinigami realm feeling positive. He'd done what he meant to do, everything was fixed and shiny and happy. He felt like he'd accomplished something and was deeply satisfied, an unusual sentiment for a shinigami, but not an unwelcome one. He was therefore surprised when he drifted overhead, to see the forms of Ryuk and Jealous sitting by his, of late, favourite spot, looking deeply depressed. He hadn't been heading there of course. He wouldn't be able to see her for about a week, and he wasn't going to try and be sneaky and find her by other means. A week of not being able to see her was a small price to pay for her continued happiness, and not much could happen in a week.

The sight of the two gloomy shinigami intrigued him so he drifted down to see what their problem was.

"Hey guys, I'm back." He chirped at them. "What's up with you two?"

The pair looked up at him, Jealous's face broke out in a smile. "Yay! You're back! You didn't have a horrible time in the human realm and get eaten by the name monster did you?"

Natrat met the eyes of the name shinigami in confusion. "Name… monster…?"

"Yeah, the monster that ate that woman's name, which meant we couldn't find you from up here."

Natrat laughed at the shinigami. "There's no such thing a name monster Jealous."

"But Ryuk said it was the only possible explanation."

Natrat glared at Ryuk.

"What? I couldn't think of a better explanation than that."

"You two really have no idea about human customs do you. But Ryuk, I expected better, you're always watching the human world. Her name's changed because she got married. She took on her husband's family name. Although she gets a week long grace-period where she doesn't have a name at all."

"Oh, so that's what it is," said Ryuk, rubbing his head embarrassedly. "No wonder Rem was calling me an idiot. I have heard of that custom, just not seen it happen before."

"I guess that comes of you only watching a certain type of person. In Jealous's case it's understandable since he's never taken much interest in the human world."

"But it's ok, 'cos you're back now!" Jealous grabbed hold of Natrat's arm and hugged it. "We were worried something bad had happened to you." Natrat looked down at the small shinigami mildly shocked at the clingy behaviour, and then wriggled his arm, struggling to free himself from the unwanted embrace. "So what did you do down there? Did you let her see you? Did you help her like you wanted? You didn't do anything bad did you? Rem's really worried that you'll get in trouble with the King…"

Ryuk looked at Jealous as he trailed off, running out of momentum to keep up his hyperactive tirade. Ryuk neglected to mention that what Rem was really worried about was them getting in trouble for helping, since it wasn't important, and instead turned expectantly to see what Natrat had to say for himself. It would be undoubtedly amusing.

Natrat sat down, putting a little distance between himself and Jealous, as if he might grab him again, and began to tell them what had happened.

* * *

He'd sat and watched it unfold in the world below. Beatrice breaking down in tears as her fiancé's friend spoke to her. Told her a story of her beloved Byron's college days, which she could hardly believe true of him. But the friend, Natrat couldn't recall his name right now but he was to be the best man at the wedding assured her that it was true.

Apparently he'd got into difficulty with money whilst he was at college, some sort of gambling problem said the friend, and he'd borrowed money from someone who he really shouldn't have trusted, especially since he couldn't at that time guarantee he'd be able to pay it all back. And he hadn't been able to. So instead this man had made him pay him back another way, and that was at first just to do him a couple of little favours. Byron had realised at this point that this was not the type of person he should have gotten involved with. The favours were initially small, helping out with small time jobs, but eventually it got bigger, and Byron was afraid because the jobs weren't exactly legal, and if they were caught, he'd be in trouble, but he couldn't get out of it because he owed the guy and if that guy didn't feel he'd had sufficient payment, he was sure he wouldn't think twice about murder. Eventually he passed his course, just barely, and he'd got help with the gambling and managed put a stop to it. He moved away, and the guy had let him go, deeming it sufficient payment, for then anyway.

But unfortunately Byron had recently heard a rumour that the guy was extending his gang into the city where they'd been planning to live when they were married. And he didn't want to tell her, but if they found out he was there, he was afraid he might be suckered into the underworld again, and this time they'd have a wife to threaten to cajole him into doing the jobs. And he hadn't told her any of this, and had told the friend not to speak to anyone about it, but he thought she should know. She'd held together quite well until she got home upon which Natrat had decided to take matters into his own hands.

He'd decided that as an outside onlooker he had a better idea of the situation, especially having watched her interactions with Byron, and he'd watched him a little bit as well. He'd made his decision and left for the human world, without telling anyone, only Jealous had had any clue as to what he was doing and he wouldn't figure it out until he was already gone, so no-one had been able to stop him.

There was only one entrance to the human realm, and it was never guarded since shinigami came and went from time to time, merely for the task of finding a suitable human victim. This portal theoretically lead to everywhere in the human world, but where you actually ended up depended on whether you actually knew where you wanted to go, and if you didn't it might take a day or two to get to somewhere that actually contained people. It was a big planet, and though there were a lot of people who lived on it, they tended to live in aggregated clumps, and if a shinigami came out over a large ocean he might even end up flying round in circles and not coming across a population.

Natrat however hadn't had much trouble finding where he wanted to go. Having watched Beatrice for quite a while, he had a very good idea where she lived and how to find it, and as such it didn't take him long to travel between the worlds and come out in the right place over her home town. He spent sometime circling above her house, after checking she was still there, figuring out how to go about what he wanted to do.

Natrat drifted in through the window and observed. Beatrice had fallen asleep on her bed, but she was still dressed in what she'd been wearing earlier, and her face was tear-streaked, so it was apparent she'd fallen asleep crying. It was late, her clock showed the time to be one in the morning. Natrat pulled his death note out of its holster and carefully tore of the corner of a page. The fragment was small and certainly not large enough for anyone to consider writing on it.

He hesitated, momentarily, considering the possible ramifications for this action, but as far as he knew revealing oneself to a human wasn't against any rules. Then he gently tucked the paper into the woman's outstretched hand, and curled the fingers around it gently. This action stirred her from her sleep, and she whispered Byron's name as she tightened her grasp on the paper.

"No, I'm sorry, but I'm not Byron," said Natrat, trying not to wake her too quickly. He knew she'd be startled by his inhuman appearance if he didn't do this right. "I'm… well I'm what you've been calling 'your guardian angel', but that's probably not the best description."

She'd sat up, and peered bleary eyed to the source of the voice. In the dim light of the room, provided by a streetlight across the road seeping in through a chink in the curtains, she probably couldn't make out very many details. The glimmer of his eyes on her, the shadowy shape of his wings curved out behind him, and the slight glitter of reflected light on his sparse jewellery. But still, she could almost certainly tell that he wasn't human, and that he didn't really fit with typical form associated with angels. He guessed she was still a little afraid that he wasn't safe, that he was a human here for some malevolent purpose, or that he was indeed otherworldly but not on her side.

"Can I turn on the light?" she whispered cautiously.

Natrat had reached out his hand, as if to stop her, and for a moment it had been clearly visible in the sheet of light that reached across the room, then he withdrew it and muttered an ok. Light flooded the room, and she had been momentarily blinded, blinking rapidly to adjust her eyes to both the increased light level and in disbelief at seeing the shinigami. Natrat had stood there silently, waiting for a reaction.

"What are you?" she said finally.

"I'm a shinigami, a god of death. I took the life of the man that attacked you in the alley, and since then I've been watching over you from my world. I… I wanted to talk to you about what you discovered today."

"Why?"

"Because… because I care about you. I saved your life, and though it wasn't my intention, you thanked me, and I felt the need to do something to earn your gratitude so I started to watch over you. And though I will not be able to save you again that way without breaking the rules of my realm, I feel the least I can do is ensure that the remaining lifespan you gained when I saved you is spent happily. And I think that is more likely to happen if you do get married today."

Beatrice had paused, something in the way he'd said that had made her think that perhaps she didn't have as much time left as she would've hoped. "How much time do I have left before I die?"

"I'm sorry, but it's against the rules to tell you that, and I wouldn't tell you anyway. Humans tend to do stupid things if they know when they're going to die, and more often than not end up causing their own deaths. But it's more time than you would have had if I hadn't interfered. What's that human saying? Oh yes, you're 'living on borrowed time'. You should be dead, but you're not. I suggest that you make the most of your extra time. That man, he loves you very much, at least from what I've seen. I'm sure he was only trying to keep you safe. So what if he should have told you, I know that humans are also especially prone to do stupid things when it comes to people they care for. And I wouldn't worry about that gang stuff, if it happens it happens, you shouldn't let the thought of what might happen in the future mess up your present."

Beatrice had watched and listened as Natrat had spoken, her face breaking from her worried frown, into a faint smile.

"I suppose you know what you're talking about; since I'm sure you've been watching humanity for a long time." she paused. "I'm glad you came. I didn't really want to leave him, but I was afraid, and I guess I felt a little betrayed because he didn't trust me enough to tell me about this. I guess I was having trouble seeing it from his side. Mr. Shinigami? You're invisible to everyone else right?" Natrat nodded, smiling at the human, warmth in his eyes. "Would you like to come to my wedding? I would be honoured to have you there."

Natrat had agreed to come to wedding, since he didn't have to back to the shinigami realm yet, and had left the human to sleep, spending the rest of the night drifting over the town, observing the peaceful setting. He'd watched the early morning activities of humans getting up and going to work or occupying themselves in other ways, witnessing the remarkable difference between the human realm and the shinigami realm, in that down here everyone always seemed to be rushing about to get things down, whilst in the shinigami realm everything moved at a much more sedentary pace, often with nothing in particular happening for months or years at a time. He supposed this was the difference between mortals and immortals.

The wedding took place in the early afternoon. Beatrice had momentarily met his eyes as she entered the church, acknowledging his presence. She probably considered him an otherworldly blessing. He thought she looked beautiful in her dress and was pleased to see her old name which she would be giving up today had was already somewhat faded and indistinctive. He was somewhat amused to see the surprised look on the groom's face, perhaps his friend had confessed to talking to Beatrice yesterday, and he'd been afraid she wouldn't show up?

He's felt out of place as the ceremony proceeded. A wedding was not really an appropriate place for a God of _Death_, to be hanging about. But nevertheless he felt somewhat happy that this wouldn't be happening were it not for him. Perhaps there was more to shinigami life than merely killing?

After the wedding he'd followed the group at a distance and had watched the reception. The newlywed Beatrice and Byron Birthday left to go on their honeymoon, but Natrat didn't follow them. He had assumed that since they were going away from the rest of their friends they wouldn't want supernatural associates tagging along either. But he hadn't returned to the shinigami realm. The rules said that a shinigami could stay in the human realm for 82 hours or three and a half days without dropping a death note, and he was determined to make the most of it. Instead he'd flown around, learning as much as he could of the human world, seeking the understanding he'd been unable to get from merely watching. When his 82 hours were more or less up by his guess, he'd returned to the shinigami realm.

* * *

When he finished his story, Jealous was looking at him somewhat awed and Ryuk was still sniggering. He sighed as he realised that the other two hadn't changed even remotely whilst he'd been gone. He looked up to the sky to roll his eyes, and caught sight of the silhouetted form of Rem, flying rapidly towards them.

She landed before them, somewhat out of breath."I heard you were back, and I'll hear your story later. But I just heard that the shinigami king wants to see you. I don't know what's happened, but it didn't sound like he was happy with you. I'd be prepared for the worst."

"But I didn't break any rules. At least I don't think I did."

"That just means you won't be getting a conventional punishment."

* * *

A/N: Yay! Cliffhanger! Oh I wonder what that punishment will be... Also I finally mentioned the name Birthday just to reassure people this story is actually about Beyond, even though he still isn't around yet. And next chapter... well that'd be telling... Also I was somewhat amused by the fact the Jealous started acting like Misa (weird... and yes I know I'm the writer and therefore responsible, but it seems as if the characters have a life of their own, and thus I apologise for any OOC actions on their part).

Also, now we're at the end I can write the dedication (it's weird place for it, I know, but I didn't want to reveal too much about the chapter). Anyway, this chapter is dedicated to my friend Anne and her husband Dave who got married last month as an apology for not making it to the wedding as I was on a field course at the other end of the country (although I'm not sure she's reading this, because I don't think she's read Another Note, and he almost certainly won't read this because I don't think he's seen Death Note). And whilst I'm dedicating this chapter to people who will never read it: my old friends Matt and Georgie who I recently found out are engaged. And finally on the wedding front, my dad and his girlfriend Hilary are also planning on getting married. Although I'm not too happy about that one, since in general I don't get on with Hilary brilliantly, and I really don't want to have to refer to her as my 'step-mum'.

Reviews make me happy? Please?


	4. Chapter 4

A/N: Chapter four, written with even more reference to Death Note 13: How to Read than usual, as will probably become apparent as you read it. It was fun to expand the personalities of shinigami we see little or nothing of in the main series merely from the description given of them in this book.

Disclaimer: I don't own Death Note.

* * *

Natrat followed behind Rem, his mood having taking a definite drop. Not that he even remotely regretted his actions, not yet at any rate. He hadn't done anything so serious as to warrant any of the higher levels of punishment, those that would result in his immediate demise. If fact, he was struggling to see what exactly he had done wrong. And he was perfectly willing to act defiant, and justify his actions before the shinigami king.

Jealous and Ryuk had tagged along as well of course. They were now fully aware of Natrat's actions and were understandably curious as to how things would turn out. Plus it wasn't very often the shinigami king dealt with his underlings, and therefore they didn't exactly see him often. In fact 'see' was probably the wrong verb to be using.

The shinigami king was often said to be too incredible for humans to comprehend, and to be honest it was a little difficult for the majority of the shinigami themselves to do so. Not only that, it was considered a sign of immense disrespect to look the king in the face. So in general when a shinigami was lucky, or more often unfortunate, enough to have an audience with the king, they spent their time looking at their own feet or equivalent, showing their humility before the king. After all, if you were there in the case of having done something worthy of reprimand, the last thing you wanted to do was show disrespect and earn increased severity in your punishment. The term 'hear' was definitely more appropriate. Despite not knowing what the king looked like his voice alone would have made him worthy of nightmare, that was if shinigami were inclined to sleep, which they were not, they didn't need it and doing so was considered lazy. The voice of the king was one that was deep, so deep that his words were more easily felt through the vibrations coming up through your feet than heard, which was intimidating to say the least.

As such, although Ryuk, Jealous and Rem were curious as to what would happen to Natrat, they were also apprehensive about merely being in the presence of the king. As they arrived in the arena where the king would pass judgment, they noticed they weren't the only ones who'd been curious as to the fate of Natrat. Somehow, the news of Natrat's return and judgement had spread remarkably quickly for any form of gossip in the shinigami realm, and the faces of many shinigami were visible. They were all trying to act nonchalantly, as if they'd rather be elsewhere, but unfortunately they'd just happened to wander in here and might as well stick around. After all showing any form of enthusiasm for something that did not direct affect you, was considered un-shinigami-like behaviour. As it was the story of Natrat's visit to the human world had been the topic of much discussion for the past couple of days, since Rem had gone to speak to Nu. And shinigami, whether they acted like it or not, were suckers for gossip. And this was the most interesting thing to happen for a long while.

The arena was a bowl shaped area in the sand, with one edge of the bowl overtaken by a large structure where the king would speak from. The centre of the bowl was flattened out, and this was where Rem lead Natrat as the other two went to occupy an inconspicuous spot on the curved edges of the bowl. Natrat followed behind Rem, until he was standing between the two highest ranked shinigami other than the king, Nu and Justin. After a nod of acknowledgement from Nu, Rem hurriedly made her way off the main floor of the arena.

It was unlikely to find a more different pair of shinigami than Nu and Justin, full name Armonia Justin Beyondormason, in both looks and behaviour, so the fact that together they made the two top spots in the shinigami rankings was something that Ryuk found endlessly amusing. Justin embodied what was a somewhat human view of a death god, in that he was built like a skeleton, however instead of the bone white death in a hooded cowl, he was golden and bedecked with jewellery. His opinions were trusted by all, including the shinigami king, and he had an extensive knowledge of the rules governing their lives and realm. He was somewhat fame and of late had developed the human habit of smoking, though no one could fail him for that, it wasn't like they could kill him. He claimed to enjoy the sensation of the smoke trailing out of his chest between his ribs, even if it meant he had to polish them more often.

Nu on the other hand was about as non-human as you could get in a shinigami. Her body was like Midora's in that instead of being built around a basic human frame of head, two arms, two legs, she was somewhat more slug-like in structure. However she took this further than Midora. Whilst she still kept her arms, they were undoubtedly the second most important feature for a shinigami, after all they could hardly survive without the capacity to write, the rest of her was not so standard. Like the rarely seen shinigami Calikarcha she had more than one pair of eyes. In fact her entire body was covered with eyes, lacking any other of the usual features. Her eyes were scattered randomly across her form and were in many different sizes. She was a very difficult individual to sneak up on, as Ryuk and discovered to his disappointment many times in the past, events that he did not look on fondly since Nu was not the most social of shinigami and each of those times she's stared him down until he'd practically been grovelling before her in forgiveness. She said she liked repentance, and that she was supportive of the idea of forgiveness, Ryuk thought she just liked to watch him grovel. She was said to not like noise, which was probably why she did like such a noisy individual as Ryuk. Ryuk had once said that this was because she didn't have any ears and instead had to focus on lip-reading to understand people, and therefore merely didn't appreciate noise as she never got to experience it, however he'd said this after he'd annoyed her and had to beg, so that such a sulky claim couldn't be taken seriously.

As Natrat stood there, shuffling nervously from one foot to the other, a silence swept across the arena as every shinigami present immediately noticed the presence of the shinigami king, and ceased their half-hearted chatter and fidgeting. The silence spoke for itself, the king was waiting for Natrat's case to be spoken. There was no specific justice system in the shinigami realm. Rule-breaking was infrequent enough not to require a specific system and instead there were merely guidelines in place for the breakage of any specific rule, and organising punishment was usually carried out immediately, with little fuss. However this case was unusual enough for a more complex proceedings, and in fact the shinigami seemed to take some of humanity's practice's to bear. In short, Justin was going to act as prosecutioner, and Nu would take the role of attempting to defend Natrat, since having spoken directly to Rem, she knew somewhat more of the shinigami's motives. Of course they were far to disorganised for it to follow the formality of a human trial. As Natrat stood there, fidgeting nervously under the shinigami king's gaze, he wondered how the two knew so much about what had occurred, and at each turn of the conversation, revealed more knowledge of what was going on in the human realm than even he.

Justin started out first. "Natrat is responsible for crimes that have been cleverly contrived to slip through the loopholes in our rule-book. Whether deliberate or not, it cannot be denied that his actions have been irresponsible and have resulted in actions that are in breach of the most basic of shinigami ethics, one so simple that no-one has felt the need to express it in written words, namely saving the life of a human, whose life he is personally involved with."

Nu interrupted him here. "Whilst the life of the human woman was saved, that was not his intention at the time, instead he merely was carrying out the most basic of shinigami needs by taking the life of a human to expand his own lifespan. At that time the fact that another human life was consequently saved was unimportant to him, and usually no action is taken for such as occurrence, which is commonplace although not usually so dramatic. He only became involved in the life of the human after this fact after her later actions were brought to his attention by the shinigami Ryuk." At this statement Ryuk shifted uncomfortably in his seat as the eyes of the other shinigami in the arena momentarily turned to look at him.

"That is partly the point," replied Justin. "A shinigami should not watch a human so obsessively, as he was doing, unless he was planning to kill said human."

"There is no rule against doing so. It should not matter how a shinigami occupies their time, so long as it is in accordance with the rules."

"There _is_, however, a rule that governs visits to the human realm."

At this statement, Nu remained silent, waiting for Justin to expand on the rule.

"'Shinigami must not stay in the human world without a particular reason'" cited Justin from memory. "'Acceptable reasons are as follows: when a shinigami's Death Note is handed to a human. When finding a human to take possession of Death Note, whilst it should be done from the shinigami realm, but if it is within 82 hours it may be done from the human realm. And finally when a shinigami stalks an individual with the intention to kill them, as long as it is within 82 hours of possessing them.' Natrat's visit to the human realm was not for any of these purposes, and I'm sure he will admit to it being a selfish desire to help out a human."

"I wouldn't call helping someone else with no benefit to myself 'selfish'," muttered Natrat under his breath, so none but the two flanking him heard, and they made no move to acknowledge that he'd spoken.

"He may not have travelled there for any of those reasons, but he did not stay there longer than the allotted 82 hours. Specific reasons for visiting the human realm are acknowledged little by most of those who do go there for other reasons, although most get around that by killing someone whilst they are there, thus placating the rule by fulfilling the third reason." replied Nu, matter of factly. "He should not be punished for breaking a rule that many of the shinigami here today have cheated at some point in the past."

"My final point that brings to bear the reason Natrat should face punishment of some form is similar to my original point, as the results of his actions directly contravene the most basic principal of shinigami life, to kill. As my first point stated, he saved the life of a human woman, and it is her life he has directly involved himself with, by revealing himself, an action which is not prohibited, though it is advised against. As a result of this, a life which should not has existed whatsoever has come into being. The woman he saved, the woman he visited in order to encourage her association with another human, has, as a result of these two actions, conceived a child which she will without doubt carry to full term. This child is a life that should not exist, and Natrat should be punished at least for his interference with the natural order."

And with that revelation Justin finished his case, and Nu, was struck silent. She hadn't known there was a child, and wondered exactly who Justin had spoken with to get this information. Natrat was also surprised by this revelation, but was strangely proud, instead of worrying about his imminent punishment.

As silence slowly settled over the arena once more, the shinigami king announced his judgement.

**"The punishment of this individual shall be shaped to fit to the nature of his crime. His death shall not be immediate, as is usual when I decree punishment as such. Instead I shall remove his ability to further his remaining life. His eyes shall be taken from him, so that he may no longer watch the human realm, and they shall be given to this child. The child, who is as good as his own child, shall be forced to live with the constant reminder of mortality that the being responsible for him dared tamper with."**

The king fell silent, his judgement passed, and stood expectantly, waiting for it to be carried out.

Justin turned to Natrat and muttered "sorry, but rules are rules, and there's no way I'm going against the kings judgement." He produced a knife from somewhere; it was probably one of the many sparkling accessories his kept with him, since it had a jewelled hit. "This is probably going to hurt a lot I'm afraid."

Natrat held himself composed as Justin's fingers reached towards his face, then one at a time slipped into his eye sockets around the eyeball and pulled it forward, out of the socket and the knife slipped behind the eye, cutting it free of the optic nerve, and just like that the vision Natrat had in that eye suddenly disappeared. When Justin was done with that he temporarily gave the two eyes to Nu who held them gently in the palm of one hand as Justin pulled out a strip of cloth and tied it over Natrat's face. He then took the eyes back from Nu, and spread his wings, flying out of the arena to deliver the eyes to their destination.

A/N: So little Beyond Birthday had been conceived, and has received his congenital shinigami eyes. And I hope my title is now clear. I did briefly consider Beyond having a shinigami as a literal father, but a) I'm trying to follow the rules, and b) ewww…

Please review! I want to know what people think of my ideas.


	5. Chapter 5

A/N: Somewhat later than I intended, but here's chapter 5. I apologise but I was in London until Monday afternoon, and it took me a while to motivate myself to write when I got back. But Beyond actually appears this chapter so it's worth the wait, maybe... I hope. And my friend in London, Dragonrider4000, who I was visiting, has just posted the first chapters of a brilliantly funny story called Death Note Alphabet. Which I highly recommend to people. I'm her beta, so go and tell her how wonderful her grammar is.

And I hate to beg (since it hasn't really worked so far), but please review on this. I would appreciate more feedback.

Disclaimer: I don't own Death Note.

* * *

At first Natrat hadn't coped well with being blind. The actual experience of having his eyes removed wasn't painful, since because shinigami couldn't by natural means their bodies had no need to feel pain. Natrat had said it had felt a little weird and a bit uncomfortable but other than that he was fine. His problem was the fact that he couldn't see. He had trouble moving around the shinigami realm, and had taken to not flying since in the air there were fewer stimuli to tell him where he was. On the ground however he at least felt more certain he was the right way up, and could tell by things like the feel of the ground and how much the sound echoed where he was. He had spent the first couple of weeks after his trial, trudging around the shinigami realm trying to get used to it.

Ryuk had asked him how he felt about not being able to kill humans anymore, and what was it like knowing that he would die. This might have been considered a spiteful question if it had come from another shinigami, but Natrat knew that from Ryuk it was just honest curiosity, (although Ryuk's 'honest curiosity' was often considered to have negative connotations), and therefore he answered honestly in turn.

"It's actually quite a relief," he'd said, surprising Ryuk. "you know I've never liked killing human's and have always only done it because I felt it was something that had to be done, and I always felt guilty about it afterwards. But now the dilemma has been taken away and I guess I feel happier for it."

"There's only one dilemma left, and I'm sure the king intended it to be so when he punished me. Well, it's not really a dilemma since it wasn't difficult for me to make my mind up about it, not that I could do anything about it at present."

"What's that?"

"Well, there is one human whose name I can picture clearly, and I know her name as well, so if I wanted to I could take the rest of her lifespan. But I couldn't do it at present anyway, and I couldn't kill her, not after all this is because I protected her in the first place."

"Wait, why can't you kill her?"

"She's pregnant. Killing her would also kill the child, since its life is entirely dependant on her at present, so she's effectively immune to the death note until she gives birth. But as I said, I'm not going to kill her."

"Well that's easy for you to say now. But what about a year from now? When you'll be freely able to kill her. A year knowing your death is coming and you can put it off for a bit longer?" enticed Ryuk.

Natrat turned his face towards the source of Ryuk's voice, as it to stare at him with the empty eye sockets that lay below the bandage. "I'm not going to kill her. That would be hypocritical of me. Now stop trying to wind me up."

"Hmph," said Ryuk, annoyed that his act had been seen through so easily. "But aren't you curious as to what that woman is doing? You watched her so much before and now could can't."

"It's true," admitted Natrat. "I do miss watching over her. I worry about her, even though I know she won't die yet. And I wanted to see her child…"

"You know… if you tell me her name, I might be nice and check on her for you."

"You'd be nice? Don't make me laugh Ryuk; you never do anything unless it's in your own interest. And anyway, I'm not sure I should tell you her new name, I don't know if I trust you with it."

"I'm hurt. I wouldn't kill your precious human. It's too entertaining to watch you pine over her." Ryuk chuckled. "And it is in my interest. I wanna see what happens to that poor kid who gets your eyes. But since you hurt my feelings, I might not help you for a while."

And with that, Ryuk flew off.

* * *

Natrat somewhat regretted his decision. But he knew Ryuk wouldn't be able to leave it at that if he was really interested. And, true to thought, Ryuk came back a few months later.

Those few months had been fairly dull; being unable to see had made it even more intolerable that the usual mind numbing monotony the shinigami realm had to offer, as the usual pursuits, like gambling, were impossible. He'd had the occasional conversation with Jealous, who seemed to be one of very few who were sympathetic towards him. Most of the shinigami who hadn't been particularly aware of his situation were treating him with calculated indifference, so it was really only Rem, Jealous and Ryuk who would have talked to him civilly, that was if Ryuk hadn't been doing his feigned 'hurt' act and avoiding him.

So Natrat was happy when one day the familiar voice of Ryuk, echoed out behind him.

"Hey Natty, long time no see," he said, and then laughed at his own joke.

"Hello Ryuk," said Natrat, ignoring the spiteful comment. He knew Ryuk didn't mean it as such, and there was no point taking offense, he didn't want Ryuk to disappear again. "How've you been?"

"Bored." said Ryuk honestly. "It's no fun without someone to tease. And I've got nothing much to do."

"Well, I've been bored too. No one really seems to want to talk to me. It's as if I might be contagious, although what they think they might catch I don't know."

"Well, I guess we shinigami are a rather superstitious bunch…" said Ryuk apologetically.

"That offer you made…" asked Natrat hesitatingly, "are you still up for doing it?"

"You mean checking up on that woman for you. Sure, as I said, I'm bored, I've got nothing to do, and your obsession with her has always been a subject of my interest." Ryuk chuckled. "You just need to tell me her name…"

"I guess I can trust you with that. She's hardly your type anyway." Said Natrat, referring to the type of human Ryuk preferred to kill. Ryuk was the sort of shinigami who liked to cause as much chaos in the human realm as possible when he had to kill. Natrat failed to see why he found such a thing so entertaining, but he was pretty certain that the fate of the human realm was not held in the hands of his favourite human, so he doubted Ryuk would kill her to spite him. Despite his love of chaos, Ryuk was a pretty good guy, and could generally be trusted to keep to his word.

"Her? Not likely."

"Beatrice Birthday. That's her name."

"Shall we be off then?" asked Ryuk, unfolding his wings.

"Ryuk?"

"You're coming with me to the pool right? Or are you going to stay here and mope?"

"Of course I'm coming" said Natrat defensively. Then added more quietly, as if ashamed, "but I can't really fly there. I can't see where I'm going anymore remember?"

"Ah," said Ryuk. He'd sort of forgotten that. "Well I'm not walking. We've got wings for a reason. And you can either walk. Or you can hold my ankle and follow me."

Natrat hesitated. It would be a blow to his pride to accept physical help from another shinigami. And he was surprised that Ryuk had even offered since it was hardly standard behaviour for a shinigami to help others; that was what he was in trouble for after all. He realised that he really shouldn't be bothered with pride anyway. It was meaningless. He supposed he'd given it up when he'd first started watching Beatrice, but he hadn't really noticed; it hadn't been important to him at the time.

He sighed and spread his wings. He heard Ryuk chuckle and felt a gust of dry air as Ryuk sprung into the air. He reached out blindly, and Ryuk carefully, so as not to kick him in the face, placed his ankle into his grip. Natrat held tightly, and was suddenly yanked into the air without warning, having to hurriedly bring his wings into action to right himself, and to prevent himself and Ryuk being suddenly dragged downwards. His wings were stiff from months of disuse, and he had to work hard so as not to be a burden on Ryuk. Not knowing where they were going didn't help much either.

When they finally began a descent, Natrat was feeling highly disoriented. He could have been anywhere in the shinigami realm for all he knew. He was grateful when he Ryuk wriggled out his grasp and his feet touched the ground. The familiar sensation of the cool desert sand beneath his feet comforted him. The air around him echoed with a familiar silence, accompanied by the soft sound of Ryuk landing beside him. He flinched slightly as Ryuk took his arm gently and lead him forward.

His feet initially uncertain, became more confident as he realised they were following a familiar route. The one he'd walked frequently when he'd been watching Beatrice. They stopped before the familiar warming sensation that emanated from the windows onto the human realm. Natrat sat and waited expectantly. He had no idea if he'd be able to hear what was going on, but you had to be able to see to direct the portal anyway so he wouldn't have been able to do this by himself. He heard Ryuk kneel beside him.

"It was Beatrice Birthday right?" queried Ryuk.

"Yep," said Natrat.

"Strange name." muttered Ryuk as he leaned over the pool and attempted to remember what the woman looked like.

Natrat sat in anxious silence, rubbing his thumbs together nervously. Eventually he heard Ryuk sit back.

"There we are. Wow, natty, she's huge, she wasn't like that before"

"She's pregnant." said Natrat, cursing Ryuk's stupidity. "Do you know nothing about humans?"

"I know." said Ryuk sulkily. "I was just a little surprised by the change that's all. Shouldn't it be over soon?"

"Nine months is what Rem said the usual duration is. So soon I guess."

There were a few seconds of silence between the two, before Natrat's curiosity got the better of him.

"So what's going on down there? Is she healthy? Is her husband there? Tell me Ryuk." he begged.

* * *

Ryuk had told Natrat what was going on in the human world to the best of his ability. Giving him commentary on what was going on down there and answering questions, for about an hour. Until he got bored. Then he'd flown off, telling Natrat he wanted an apple, and he'd be back in a little while.

He arrived back the next day. Natrat informed him that that wasn't exactly 'a little while', and that he'd been about to give up waiting. Ryuk said Natrat was obviously too used to working with human timescales, and that as a shinigami who'd been around for thousands of years, 'a little while' was a relative statement that covered a day very easily, and could just have easily described a week or even a year so he shouldn't complain. Natrat didn't push the argument. He didn't want Ryuk to disappear again, especially when Beatrice would give birth soon. Natrat was already thinking of the child as his own, and he wanted to be there when it was born, even if 'there' meant he was getting a second hand description of events going on in a window to the human realm, which wasn't really 'there' at all.

They fell into a routine. Ryuk would watch the human realm for him for two hours a day. And the rest of the time he would go off and do whatever it was he did.

So it turned out that Natrat manage to miss the birth completely. As neither Ryuk nor Natrat really knew anything about pregnancy or birth, they hadn't acknowledged any of the signs of the imminent birth. So when Ryuk returned and looked down into the human realm, the pair were surprised to discover that Beatrice Birthday was holding a small sleeping child in her arms, looking tired but pleased, whilst her husband stood next to her bed looking proud. They were talking in hushed voices so as not to wake the baby.

"What does it look like? Is it male or female?" demand Natrat, fiercely curious about the human he'd helped create.

"It looks like a small pink human. It's bald and small. Not really anything special." Said Ryuk helpfully. "I don't know if it's male of female, because it's wrapped up in a blanket and it's hard to tell when they're small, but there's a balloon over there that says 'It's a Boy!' so I'm gonna guess it's male. Hey Natrat, why doesn't it have a name or lifespan over its head?"

"He doesn't have one because he's too young. We can't take the lives of those under 780 days anyway, so we don't need to know. When they are that small they don't associate themselves with a name, and their lifespan isn't yet stabilised as they can die easily. But can you listen and try to find out what they've called him?"

"I'll have a go."

Ryuk watched the scene below for a while. A nurse came in after a while to check on the family, and asked them some questions. Ryuk listened to the conversation and sure enough he picked up the name of the baby. But he didn't tell Natrat straight away, but instead he watched as the baby stirred and opened his eyes silently to look up at his parents and the nurse. The humans in the room didn't notice but Ryuk watched the sight line of the child drift towards the sparkling red text over the heads of the others present. Then the child seemed to decide it wanted attention for some reason and started to cry loudly. Disinterested by this Ryuk turned away from the pool.

"They said his name's 'Beyond'. Which is an even weirder name. And he defiantly has your eyes. They're red. The nurse seemed to have a problem with this and said something about him lacking pigment and they might need to do some tests if they don't develop a colour. But I don't think it's anything other than your eyes so they needn't worry."

"Beyond Birthday." Said Natrat softly, silently wishing a long happy life on the child born with his eyes.

* * *


	6. Chapter 6

A/N: Later than I intended, I'm sorry! I just got a bit stuck on this chapter because it's a different style to previous ones. As a result it jumps about a bit...

I did a bit of research on child development for this chapter (a sister studying childcare is apparently a useful thing, although I preferred Wikipedia). Although the chapter will probably not reflect this as I didn't refer to the research much... I also did some reading on eye colour and discovered a condition called Aniridia where the individual has an underdeveloped iris, and appears at first glance to have no iris, i.e.: black eyes. I read this and immediately thought of L. however it is also associated with poor eyesight (they're legally blind), and (in one third of cases) WAGR syndrome, and since L appears to have perfect vision and is clearly not mentally retarded, he probably doesn't have it. Since it's also associated with glucose intolerance, diabetes and obesity, I expect he's glad of that… Anyway, since I doubt anyone came here to read a genetics lecture, I'll stop talking now. On with the chapter!

Disclaimer: I don't own Death Note.

(For any confused Americans who do not understand what I'm on about. Dummys are what you call pacifiers.)

* * *

Little Beyond Birthday had a fairly uneventful infanthood. Though initially his parents had been worried about albinism at the sight of their child's unexpected red eyes, he had soon been cleared of that, after testing. His parents did not relax about this matter, of course, until he started to grow a thick mass of dark brown hair on his head, a relieving sign as of course if he had been albino it would have been an abnormally pale blonde. They continued to wait for his eyes to develop at natural colour as they had been assured would happen when the child was between four and eight months old. This failed to happen but they didn't worry about it too much.

They also believed him to be remarkably intelligent, as he'd begun focusing his eyes much earlier than normal for a child his age, and he appeared to watch things with great attention, drinking up the world around him. He quickly learned to recognise faces and watched those whom he saw intently, but sometimes he seemed to be looking at things above their faces that only he could see. His parents were slightly worried about the fact that their child did not seem to smile or laugh as much as other babies did. In fact he was generally very quiet, unnervingly so. He also started to speak later than other children his age, although when he did, it was with a larger vocabulary, and generally in proper sentences, as if he'd been waiting until he was able to talk properly before he started. He showed great determination at physical pursuits, striving at developing his ability to walk earlier than was usual, the same with his other motor skills such as holding objects. His parents were proud of him.

When he was old enough to answer the questions correctly, his first eye test demonstrated he had perfect 20/20 vision, a fact which made his parents happy as, due to his oddly coloured eyes, they had worried that his eyesight would develop improperly.

He started nursery when he was old enough. It was an unhappy time for him as before he started nursery he had been rather sheltered from other children and had problems interacting with them. He had trouble showing empathetic gestures, and often became angry with other children. He preferred to play alone, despite the best attempts of his caregivers to entice him into group activities. Despite showing poor social development, his literacy and numeracy skills were ones that developed incredibly quickly, as if he was exposed to letters and numbers near constantly and on a more personal level than other children. He was particularly sharp with people's names, which he displayed a great memory for, and sometimes he seemed to know names that people were sure he hadn't been given. This and the fact that he frequently tended to look at a spot several inches over a persons head when they were speaking to him, made his carers highly uncomfortable.

* * *

Natrat and Ryuk watched over all of this as Beyond grew older. Not that Ryuk stuck to his one hour a day offer for too long, but he continued to visit Natrat and watch the boy frequently enough, often acting reluctant, but unable to hide his interest in the child. Jealous also came to watch, often with Ryuk, sometimes without, and even Rem made occasional visits. The rest of the shinigami maintained a silent interest in the boy, listening out for any fragment of gossip about the boy who was part shinigami. Natrat was, of course, extremely proud of the child, who he thought of as his own, despite Ryuk often joking that Beyond seemed to lack the humanity Natrat possessed. Natrat did have to concede to this, after all beyond showed little empathy for and interest in other children, although it was something he hoped he would develop as he got older.

When Beyond Birthday reached the age of three and a half, he discovered his father's old collection of comic books. His father often read to him from them, with Beyond helping out by doing the sound effects. Beyond found these more complex stories far more interesting than the recommended reading material for his age group, so his father didn't mind, especially if it helped his son develop a sense of justice at an early age.

The Halloween following this, Beatrice took her son trick or treating for the first time. He dressed up as his favourite comic book character. Ryuk found the choice of costume to be hysterically funny. After all, perhaps choosing _Batman_ meant there was more of Natrat in him than just his eyes. Natrat didn't find this quite so amusing but had to admit he did have a few bat-like features. He argued that that wasn't why Beyond liked the character. Beyond actually had several reasons why Batman was his favourite superhero, one being that he was much better than superman, who seemed to think that taking off his glasses and changing his hair counted as a disguise, but would have no chance of fooling Beyond. He also liked him because he still managed to be a superhero without superpowers. Ryuk had interrupted Natrat at this stage of his rant to say that it was just a joke, and why did he have to take everything so seriously?

Natrat stopped talking there, and didn't bring up the reason Beyond liked the stories about super heroes. The reason was that Beyond had long figured out that no-one saw the same way he did, and that it must be some sort of superpower. He knew the numbers he saw meant something and he was sure he'd figure it out soon. He didn't talk to anyone about the numbers, not even his parents, because he felt he shouldn't, superheroes didn't go talking about their powers to anyone. He wanted to be hero like the people in the comics; he thought it was something he was meant to do. Why else would he have special eyes? Natrat hoped he did get to be a hero, and use his eyes to do good. It would sort be his legacy, he thought, and he wouldn't mind having lost his eyes so much.

* * *

Beatrice had figured out that her son was smarter than average when he was very young. She thinks it had been the day she's given him the toy blocks to play with, he'd been two and a half at the time, hoping he'd stack them into a tower seven blocks high, which she'd read was the expected thing for a child his age to do. Instead, after staring at them analytically for a while, as if they might start dancing or something, he'd reached out and built a tower out of them. It was she had to admit seven blocks high, but she didn't think the people writing the article had meant a tower seven blocks high, which consisted of four walls, with every other row built to overlap cracks between the blocks, and with the occasional space left for a window, and to top it all off, crenulations. It was a very impressive piece of architecture coming from an infant with limiting building materials. Beyond had admired the structure silently for a few moments, before smiling broadly and knocking it down. This was more normal behaviour for his age, although she'd left the room when he started reconstruction, almost afraid as to what he'd build next. Needless to say her husband didn't believe her when he arrived home from work that day, assuming she was exaggerating the abilities of their child.

He did however believe her the day he came home to find her cleaning the kitchen door of a sticky red substance. This was when Beyond was not quite three and had developed full range of movement, but seemed incredibly discontent with not being able to use it as he wished, since he was only at the height of a typical three year old. As such one day whilst his father was out at work and his mother was distracted talking to a neighbour outside, he'd built a very stable construction out of various books and a chair he'd dragged from the kitchen table, and had managed to get into one of the cupboards above the counter, which weren't childproofed like the lower ones as his parents believed he'd never get into them. Beyond had figured out the childproofing measures, but his parents didn't know this as he'd found the contents of those cupboards to be uninteresting. He knew however that this cupboard he was aiming for contained one of his favourite things ever. The jam.

Beyond couldn't remember a time when he hadn't liked jam. Although he himself didn't remember it his mother had used to put some on his dummy when he was a baby, to encourage him to keep the dummy in his mouth and not throw it across the room as he often had, although she'd stopped this when his teeth started to come through. For many months however, his favourite food had become jam sandwiches, and he was determined to show his enthusiasm for the food stuff by getting it for himself.

So he managed to find the jar in the cupboard, and get it out despite it being on the top shelf. He'd climbed back down the ladder he'd built and, after opening the jar and tasting the contents to make sure it was the right jar, he proceeded to make off with the jar back to his room. He hadn't bothered to disassemble the ladder, because at that point he's been focused solely on the sticky treat he'd stolen, only wanting to get away from the scene of the crime and enjoy his hard won prize away from interruptions. His mother had eventually returned inside the house to discover the state of the kitchen, and that was the day Beyond Birthday learned not to leave evidence, and the sticky jammy fingerprints he'd left on the kitchen door were concrete evidence has to who had committed the crime, and what had been taken.

In fact the next time he stole the jam he left no evidence at the scene, and it was as if the jam had mysteriously disappeared from the cupboard. Although the empty jar did later turn up on his bedroom floor and it wasn't quite so mysterious any more, and his mother threatened to stop buying jam if he did it again. The time after that he replaced the half-empty jar before any one noticed it had gone, and his parents didn't notice the somewhat depleted level in the jar.

* * *

Ryuk had watched all this and told Natrat that Beyond appeared to be quite the little criminal genius. Natrat had said that just because he was using his brain to get what he wanted, didn't make him a criminal, it just made him more efficient than most other toddlers. The boy pulled similar stunts when he was at nursery, manipulating the other children and the people who worked there, in order to not draw negative attention to himself, and instead to receive praise and treats. He'd taken to hiding his intelligence when at nursery, because showing that he was bored did not look good, and instead he put on a show of happily playing like a normal child whenever anyone important was looking. Even so, he was somewhat resentful when people talked down to him and treated him like he was average for his age.

All the while he was watching people, observing them, and trying to figure out what the numbers over peoples heads meant. He was finally able to make a breakthrough on this mystery as he approached his fifth birthday. Unfortunately at the time he wasn't very happy about it…

* * *

A/N: For any one who's interested there's a link to a picture I drew of Natrat on my profile...


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N:** Another late chapter... sorry I was visiting my recently married friend in Sheffield, who was also internetless. I did write this chapter while I was there however, and a little of the next one, and now I'm back I've typed it up and posted it here as quickly as I could. I could have done it yesterday, but I was tired from travelling, and exhausted due to a particularly nasty cold... My friend also took the time to draw an absolutely beautiful (well, in a way) picture of Natrat for me when I told her I didn't have an avatar on here. I have one now! Much better than my own attempt.

Oh, and if you've ever read any of Neil Gaiman's Sandman comic series please check out my Death Note crossover.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Death Note. also, when I wrote this I kept calling Byron, Brian. So if I missed fixing one, I apologise. Let me know of any mistakes and I'll fix them...

* * *

Ryuk had seen it coming, and Natrat had also had some inclination of it happening at some point around that time, since he vaguely remembered the number from before he lost his eyes. And if the four year old Beyond Birthday had figured out the numbers he would have known it was approaching as well. But unfortunately, he did not…

* * *

It was a warm and hazy afternoon when it happened. Beatrice had fetched Beyond home from his nursery about an hour before, and he was presently sitting happily in front of the television watching a children's programme. Or at least that was what his mother thought. In reality this was just to appease his mother, to assure her that he was just like every other four year old, and since she was in the kitchen she couldn't tell what he was really doing was flicking his way through and encyclopaedia looking for interesting articles to feed his own brain. He was glad his mother was out of the room, preparing dinner since his father would soon be home from work, since pretending to enjoy the inane programming deemed appropriate from his age group was not something he considered fun.

The phone rang, its blaring tone disturbing the tranquillity of the house. As his mother entered the living area to answer it, beyond quickly covered up his book with a cushion to disguise his intellectual pursuit from his mother, who for some reason didn't seem comfortable with the idea of a genius for a son. He pretended to watch the television whilst he listened to one side of his mother's phone conversation.

"Hello?" she answered after picking it up. From this one word Beyond was able to work out a lot. From her tone of voice he deduced it was an unexpected phone call, but from the familiar greeting it seemed to be from someone she knew.

She listened for a couple of minutes as the person on the other end of the phone explained something, or told a story. Beyond watched as his mother's face paled. Then: "Just get to the point," she said, "What happened? Where are you?"

The person on the other end of the phone talked some more. Beyond observed his mother's grip on the phone tighten, her knuckles paling to match her face. He assumed that whatever it was that had happened, it wasn't good news.

"Ok Paul," she said finally. "We'll be there as soon as possible. Can you meet us at the entrance?" After a second to receive an acknowledgement, she hung up the phone, and turned to her son with a grim expression. This closing statement of his mother's told Beyond Birthday a lot. Paul was a friend of his fathers from work.

"What happened to dad?" he asked in a quiet voice.

"He was…" she started before finding herself unable to g on and finished the sentence. "He's at the hospital. We're going to see him. Go put on your shoes,"

Beyond scrambled quickly to find and put on his shoes. If his mother had managed to put on a clam façade, covering her own fear so as not to scare him, then whatever happened must have been serious. He wouldn't let this realisation show. He would allow his mother to continue thinking he was unaware as she wished him to be, so as not to worry her further. He didn't want her to feel the need to reassure him, when it was obvious she was having trouble reassuring herself. So he put on a childish excited face, as if he was happy to get out of the house, and going somewhere new, pretending that he had no clue about the negative connotations of the word 'hospital' in this context. This in turn helped to relax his mother, at least enough so she could drive safely, without her hands shaking.

They arrived at the hospital and his father's friend was there to meet them at the entrance. He spared the boy a brief glance before leaning in to speak to Beatrice quietly.

"They said he's in critical condition, that he probably won't last much longer. He's lost too much blood and the tissue damage is too extensive for them to repair it quickly enough. He's probably only holding out so he can speak to you." He paused momentarily, taking Beatrice's hand as if to reassure her, that the doctors were wrong, that Byron wouldn't die so easily. "Why did you bring the boy?" he asked

"Do you think I could have found someone to watch him on such short notice? Besides, if it comes to it, he should be allowed to say goodbye to his father." She paused briefly, giving Paul the opportunity to nod his head in agreement. "Now, take me to my husband." she commanded.

Without saying anything further, Paul turned and led them through the maze of corridors that constituted the hospital, Beatrice gripping Beyond's hand tightly so that he couldn't wander off and get lost. He took them to the door of the room of the Accident and Emergency department in which Byron Birthday was being treated. He left them there with a sad expression, before retreating to the waiting room, giving them some privacy with their dying family member.

Beatrice pushed open the door, revealing the room beyond. A couple of nurses were fussing around a hospital bed which contained the pale and pained form of Byron Birthday. He was connected up to a drip, and a heart monitor to one side of the bed was beeping irregularly. On seeing the pair who'd just entered one of the nurses gave the man a quick injection with what was presumably morphine, before they both left the room respectfully.

The man's form relaxed slightly, a combination of the drug kicking in and relieving some of the pain, and the sight of his family helping to remove tension. He shifted slightly on the bed, revealing his ripped and blood soaked shirt, and the heavily bandaged stomach area that lay below. He managed to give his wife and son a shaky smile, before his haggard expression fell back into place as he tipped his head back onto the pillows with an unhealthy groan.

The concerned wife and child hurried forwards to stand at the beside, Beyond climbing up onto a chair placed at the end of the bed, as he was still too small to see onto the bed without it. Beatrice caressed some if her husbands swear soaked hair off of his face, so that should could meet his eyes unhindered.

"Dad…" murmured Beyond, sparing a glance to the red letters above his father's head, before focusing again on his face. His words faltered but his mother managed to fill the aching silence herself.

"What happened? Paul said that some random guy on the street shot you and made off with your briefcase?" her voice was shaking in a mix of grief and anger and her grip tightened on the rail of the bed.

Byron looked up at his wife, knowing he had to tell her this for the safety of herself and their son, but struggling to gather the ability to speak to his dying frame. "It wasn't… a stranger," he gasped out. "I knew him… from before… He works for someone I knew,… someone I owed a debt to… he wanted me to… do something. And I refused." He interrupted himself here with a coughing fit, hacking up a small amount of blood onto the clean white sheets. Beatrice reached to grab his hand, squeezing it tightly as he wheezed trying to regain his breath. When he spoke again, however it was less forced. "He wants me to pay with my life. But I'm worried that that may not be enough for him. You need to move away as soon as possible. I need you to be safe. Promise me you'll try to be safe." This said, he returned to focusing on the steady in…out, in… out of his breathing.

Beyond spotted a few tears glistening in the corners of his mother's eyes as she nodded earnestly. "We will," she said, "I promise."

"Dad," said Beyond again, fisting the bed sheets in his small hands as he did. "What's happening?" he asked, confused. His father was saying goodbye as if he was leaving. He wouldn't do that surely, he cared too much; he'd fight hard enough to stay with them.

"I'm dying son," said his father. "I'm just about there now, I can feel it, I can't fight to stay much longer. It's just the machines and my own will keeping me here, and that won't last too long." He could make out the confusion on his son's face, despite his dull and hazy vision. "When I die, I won't be here to look after you any more. So you have to be good, and look after your mother for me." He paused, thinking for a moment, of what to say to his son to make it easier for him. "Do you remember in the comics we read together, how the heroes always seemed to find their motivation for helping others because someone close to them, often their father figure, died." Beyond nodded silently. "I want you to be the same, to understand how much it hurts to lose me, so in the future you will try to prevent others from being the same. If you do, you can know I'll be proud of you. Be a hero Beyond… Become justice… for my sake…"

Having said all he needed to say, Bryan Birthday shut his eyes, giving one last squeeze of his wife's hand and let out a shaky sigh of relief. As he did so the heart monitor started to beep more slowly. Beyond glared at the monitor, vaguely understanding that it was measuring his father's heartbeat, and that it slowing down indicated his father was entering his final moments.

An alarm went off somewhere outside the room and a small team of hospital staff including the nurses from before, came racing into the room. One of the, a doctor, attempted to make a couple of adjustments to the equipment, and shot something into the dying man's arm. Whatever it was, it didn't work. The man's eyes fluttered for a second, and then the heart monitor switched from the beeping to a lower constant tone, indicating that the heart had stopped.

Beyond was watching his father's face as this transition occurred, and it was at that exact moment, that the red aura, that had always been above his father's head, which to Beyond was as much a part of his father's face as his eyes and mouth, flickered and faded out of existence.

He and his mother were pulled unresistingly away from the lifeless form, as the doctors brought forth the heart restarting defibrillator. Beyond watched as the doctors attempted to zap life back into his father's form. His mind was still focused on that empty space above his father's face. Did the presence of the name and number indicate life? Were the numbers some form of indication about that person's life? Maybe a lifespan, or something like an expiry data like you found on food packaging. That thought was slightly morbid, but something about it rang true. Why though? What did he gain, what would anyone gain by knowing the date someone was due to die? He could understand the usefulness of knowing a name, but not this.

He remembered a few times before, when he'd seen people's faces on television, who did not have their names on view. He hadn't really though much about it, and when he had he'd assumed he wasn't getting a good enough image, like how the names disappeared when a person partially covered their face. In hindsight, he supposed that those people were dead as well. And the numbers… he supposed he'd work out how they correlated to the human calendar when he had more information. He'd have to see more people who would soon die, so that he'd have a bigger sample to work from.

The doctors gave up with the defibrillator as they were getting no response from the body. They declared him dead, stating the time. Beyond mentally subtracted a couple of minutes, storing the numbers safely in his brain for future reference.

His mother sank to her knees beside him as grief overwhelmed her. He turned and allowed himself to be pulled into an embrace, his own eyes starting to water as the realisation, the finality, of his fathers death hit him. He held tightly onto his mother, reassuring himself that at least she was still here, although the numbers over her own head seemed to promise that this would not always be the case…


	8. Chapter 8

A/N: There's a bit more shinigami in this chappie, not a lot though but they were hardly in the last one at all… it's kind of fillery though, since not much actually happens. I really needed some distance between the last one and the next one though.

* * *

Ryuk and Natrat had witnessed the events of Byron Birthday's death from the shinigami realm. In fact, Ryuk had made a point of it, to be here at this particular time, as he'd known the man's exact lifespan and had been intrigued to see how an apparently healthy man would die. Natrat hadn't remembered the lifespan exactly, but thanks to Ryuk's erratic an unexplained behaviour, he'd guessed that it was forthcoming.

Of course, no amount of wheedling could get Ryuk, or any other shinigami, to tell him Beyond's lifespan. It wasn't permitted to tell those without shinigami eyes the lifespan of any human. Though this rule had usually applied only to humans, for obvious reasons, since Natrat's punishment was unprecedented, it had been extended to include the blind shinigami as well.

They had also witnessed the funeral of Byron Birthday's funeral, as the silent and formally attired Beyond loyally held his mother's hand as she wept. She had already made plans by this point, so it was straight after the funeral that the pair got changed, the remainder of their possessions were loaded into the back seat of a car, and the set off for another part of the country, as Beatrice had promised her husband.

During this period it seemed to Beatrice as if the bright crimson eyes that had characterised her son had darkened with grief, their colour now closer to that of dried blood. She did not share this observation with anyone. After all, it may have merely been her imagination, but it seemed that a more intimate knowledge of death had changed him somehow.

It had. Beyond was now devoting every minute of spare time to mystery of the numbers. He had a notepad which he wrote in in code so his mother wouldn't understand what he was writing about. His encryption was fairly simple, by using the numbers above his mother's head in order, he shifted each particular letter or number forwards a distance. He didn't have much to go on. The only time of death he knew accurately was his father's after all, but he kept notes of the lifespan of everyone he knew, as well as everyone he saw on the TV or in pictures. He focused particularly on older people, especially if he knew they were ill. It was important he kept this secret from his mother; she would probably be incredibly worried and send him to see some form of child counsellor if she thought he was obsessing over death due to the loss of his father.

Natrat and Ryuk had spotted him doing this. Ryuk had laughed, saying that no human in possession of the eyes had ever worked out how to read the numbers before. Natrat believed that Beyond would, and that it wouldn't take him long. And from what he'd heard from Ryuk about the code beyond was writing his secret noted in, it seemed that the numbers Beyond saw were different to those seen by shinigami. He supposed that because Beyond's eyes had, in a way, developed with his body, instead of the usual method of transfer, that he would not require knowledge of the shinigami's realm to translate them, and they would more likely correspond to the human calendar than that of the shinigami.

It took Beyond a year to compile enough information to start working out how the numbers worked. During this time his mother had started a new job, working part time as many hours as she could whilst Beyond wasn't at home, and earning just enough to look after the pair of them. Beyond had finished nursery and had started school properly. He'd been looking forward to doing something more interesting than just sitting about playing with toys, but was sadly disappointed by the educational content provided to his class. It was all so far below him, and he was just as bored as he'd been before. He did have access to the small library the school had though, but tended to stay at the older end of the spectrum of books, but it was still fairly juvenile. He didn't bother making friends. He couldn't be bothered with the other children his age. So all in all, he found school a chore, but he didn't complain. He was continuing to act like a normal child for the benefit of his mother who seemed to crave any form of the old life she'd had before.

He finally had a breakthrough on his search shortly after he turned six. The conversion method had turned out to be relatively simple when he worked out how the numbers were meant to be arranged, and once he'd figure out that a couple of the digits he'd thought were 9's turned out to be upside down 6's. The numbers converted into a date and time, which corresponded to the time that person was due to die. Beyond had verified this by finding a couple of people on his list that seemed like they would die soon, or who had apparently died since he'd written their information down, and he just hadn't heard about it yet. He quickly verified that they had died, and at the times the numbers had predicted. He was happy, only feeling the faintest twinge of guilt for feeling happy that people had died.

It was at this point, upon confirming that the numbers did indeed refer to a person's date and time of death that Beyond started to wonder. Everyone had these numbers above their heads sitting there right below their names, just shouting out to anyone who could see, 'this is when I will die'. But not him. Beyond's name was there, he could see it reflected back at him whenever he looked in the mirror and the right way round in photos, but the numbers that were there for every other living being were hidden from him. He wondered what this could mean. Did it mean he had no death day, was he immortal? He believed that thought was rather unlikely, after all he could still get hurt, he'd had enough grazed knees in his time to testify to that, and had no super healing abilities so, he assumed he was quite capable of dying. It was more likely that he wasn't allowed to know, that he couldn't see his own death day. He was quite glad about this. He couldn't imagine ever wanting to know exactly when he would die. When would knowing that be of value to him, especially if he was powerless to stop it. He'd rather not know when his death was coming.

It was also at this point that he stopped. He did nothing more with the numbers. He had realised that he now had the ability to discover people's death days, just by looking at them and doing a bit of maths. It scared him, and he made a point not to go through the simple process for anyone. Because the more he used it, the easier it would become and it would quickly develop into an instantaneous knowledge. He knew how his mind worked after all. There were some things in life he did not want to know, and the date of his mother's death was one of them. He'd be fine if it was a long way into the future, but what if it wasn't, what if it was soon. What would he do with that knowledge? Would he try to prevent her death and be unable to? It was something that scared him, and so he avoided thinking about the numbers, avoided even looking at his mother's face in fear of the fact that he would see those crimson numerals above her head saying to him, this is when you will lose the only person in the world who cares for you and who you care about in return.

* * *

Ryuk had spotted this difference in the way he interacted with his mother, and Natrat had suggested that it was because he had figured out how to read the numbers. Ryuk had tried to deny it, but in the end admitted that Beyond had most likely become the first human to be able to see times of death.

Natrat wondered what that sort of knowledge would do to a human, who would be unable to affect the numbers in any way. After all, the only way to change the times of death was to interfere by using a death note. Death notes were not a natural way for humans to be killed, were a human to be killed by a death note it would not be at the time they were due to die, as shinigami worked by using the difference between the 'destined' time of death and the actual death by notebook. Without a death note the time of death would be when the human would die despite whatever actions anyone took to help them. In fact they may also end up accidentally causing the death themselves in their attempt to prevent it. This was why shinigami never told humans how the numbers worked, and were forbidden from telling them times of death. It was therefore a fact that no matter what Beyond tried to do to prevent a death, it would be inevitable.

He therefore understood why Beyond did not want to look at his mother. The boy obviously instinctively understood the futility of trying to manipulate times of death. Natrat was worried what would happen when Beyond overcame his reluctance. The boy lacked patience, and eventually the burning desire for knowledge, which presently seemed to be his biggest motivation, would force him to overcome his inhibitions and bite into the apple of truth. Natrat knew what he would discover when he eventually did so, and he was very much afraid of what would happen when he did.

* * *

It took longer than Natrat had expected. It took Beyond a month and a half before he finally came to the decision to find out his mother's death day. After all, she was a healthy individual in a low risk occupation, her death was likely to be some distance into the future when Beyond was a lot older and had left home. He was just making himself more apprehensive and paranoid by not knowing.

To build himself up to this knowledge he started by calculating death dates for other people he knew, he also considered this practise for what he hoped to be instant comprehension of death days in the future. He figured that perhaps this knowledge would be useful in his chosen career path. He wanted to be a detective, he knew he had the brains for it, and it would certainly be somewhat of the heroic future he'd dreamed of with his father. There were all sorts of situations where it could be useful. If it were a missing person he would be able to tell if they were alive or dead and take risks accordingly. He would also be able to tell whether death row inmates would win their appeals or whether the suspect would be inadvertently killed during pursuit, which might determine how much reputation he staked on a case. He would know when to ask colleagues to take risks that might involve death, because it wouldn't. Yes, he'd decided. It would most defiantly be to his advantage to learn to use this gift as well as possible.

So he calculated the time of his mother's death. Then he did it again, just in case he'd made a mistake, which wasn't something that happened often, or at all, but you never knew. And then he checked it a third time, just make absolutely sure, because surely this date just couldn't be correct. And after that he knew. And he wished he didn't. Curiosity, it seemed, had decided to punish him.

There was nothing he could do. He couldn't forewarn her as there was no way she would believe him if he tried to explain it. His was not an easily demonstrated ability after all. He couldn't do anything to prevent it either; the time was set in blood red numerals, and his small six year old body was hardly capable of saving her from death in an unknown guise.

It was inevitable.

His mother was going to die in two days time and there was absolutely _nothing_ he could do about it.


	9. Chapter 9

A/N: Sorry this is late, but I moved back into uni at the weekend and only got hold of the internet today. Eventually. After asking my flatmates to help. My computer did not want it to work… and in regards to being back at uni- there may be more delays between chapters as I have lots of work to do, but I'll try to update as often as I can, and possibly the updates may be a regular as they have been.

In regards to this chapter: for once I find it useful to have a sister doing a childcare course. I merely looked up the various policies in use at her placement. Very useful in this situation. Unfortunately no information on what happens after the school bit, so I made it up. And I'm sorry but this is another sad chapter… but look at it this way: I'm nearly at Whammy's. Reviews make me feel very happy and encourage me to write faster.

* * *

Beyond Birthday hardly said a word the next day. He gave monosyllabic answers whenever he was spoken to, and he refused to look his mother in the face. His mother didn't understand what had gotten into him. In addition to this he was rather clingy, he didn't want to go to school, and spent five minutes clingy resolutely onto his mother's leg before she scolded him, and he, reluctantly but silently, let go and unhappily went to class, looking back over his shoulder mournfully.

He passed the rest of that day at school thinking, ignoring all those around him, trying to come up with a way to save his mother. He couldn't tell her she would die, and death would surely find her no matter what she did. Even if he convinced her to stay at home with him all day someone could break in and attack her, or there could be a fire, or she could slip getting out of the bath and break her neck. There were so many ways for her to die, and he'd prefer it to be something natural, and not something that was directly his fault because he'd interfered and had caused her to suffer before her death. He could only hope that by letting events run their cause his mother would die painlessly, and he didn't want to worry her unnecessarily before her death.

_But!_ Said the selfish part of his brain, _you don't want her to die. If she dies, what will happen to you?_ He didn't know. He didn't have any relatives to look after him that he knew of. He vaguely remembered grandparents from before they'd moved, but he also remember the numbers that went with their faces and knew they would be dead by now, although he didn't know how, and he couldn't remember aunts or uncles. He and his mother had been a set since his father had died, there was no one else particularly close to either of them. He supposed he'd end up at an orphanage, maybe he'd be adopted. He could imagine calling any one else as his parent's foster or otherwise. He still missed his father, and knew that tomorrow morning would be the last time he would see his mother, and that thought stung bitterly. He wanted to cry, but he knew it would be a bad idea. He wouldn't be able to explain why he was upset, and though he could lie convincingly, he didn't want to as his teacher would tell his mother and then she would be upset too. So he held in his tears, because tomorrow he'd be able to let them out, guilt free.

He was oddly disconnected from reality as he went about his daily façade of childishness, an act that was so natural to him by this point that it required very little effort or concentration to keep up. No one at school had any inclination as to the struggle his mind was going through.

That evening he sat on his mother's lap whilst she watched the television. His mother paid no mind to the fact that he wasn't doing his usual evening activity which was more energetic, but assumed he'd worn himself out at school. In reality he was enjoying feeling his mother's warmth, twiddling strands of her hair between his fingers, committing her deeply into his memory, as this would soon be all he had left of her. He fell asleep in her arms, he felt safest there, and just for a while he'd been able to forget his knowledge of what the next day would bring, and silence his screaming mind.

He woke early the next morning with an idea. The sun had barely begun poking its pale rays over the horizon as he slipped out of bed, his toes burying their way soothingly into the carpet as he made for the door of his bedroom. He silently paced across to his mother's room and crept in towards her bed. He climbed up beside her sleeping form and for a few moments watched her peaceful expression. Then he prodded her gently on the shoulder and she woke up, although somewhat reluctantly. Her eyes focused and she looked up at her son, who looked at her with and expression that showed all he was truly feeling.

"What's the matter dear?" she asked, pulling back the covers and allowing Beyond to snuggle into them beside her.

"I had a nightmare…" he started shakily. She put and arm round him, pulling him closer. "It was horrible."

"What happened?" asked Beatrice. "It sometimes helps to talk about the things that scare you; sometimes it makes them seem less frightening than they did before."

Beyond hesitated for a moment before speaking. "It was scary. You were there, and I knew something dreadful was going to happen, that you were going to die, and I couldn't tell you and I didn't know what to do. And then you were gone, and I was alone and scared, and I still didn't know what I was supposed to do. And I missed you and it hurt..." he said, his voice cracking and he started to cry into his mother's shoulder.

She sat up and pulled him tightly to her chest, stroking her fingers through his hair reassuringly. "It's ok Beyond. I'm still here, it was only a dream."

Beyond shook his head, before his slightly muffled voice emerged. "But what if… what if you do die?"

"Don't be silly, why would I die?" she started hesitantly.

"No… you might. It might come as a surprise at any time, like with dad. Neither of us expected him to leave so suddenly. And I don't know what to do if the same thing happens with you."

Beatrice sat in thought for a moment. She knew deep down that her son was more intelligent than she wanted to believe, and that a simple reassurance that she wouldn't die, would not be enough to ease the poor boys mind. He needed an honest answer, what would happen to him if she was taken away? She realised she hadn't made any plans for such an eventuality, and was slightly annoyed with herself, since she could give as certain an answer as she would've liked.

"I'm not one hundred percent sure what would happen to you. I assume you'd move to an orphanage. You'd probably be adopted by some nice people because you're a good boy, and quite frankly adorable. Although my opinion may be slightly biased." She chuckled a bit at this. "And I know that though you'd probably be sad at first, that you would cope, because you're my son, you take after your father, and you're emotionally very strong. And I know you'd grow up into a fine young man that I could be proud of, and that you'd use that impressive brain of yours for a good cause. So even if the unlikeliest of events happens and I do leave you, you mustn't be afraid and uncertain, because I love you and I believe in you, and that even if I'm not here, there will always be someone watching over you." She finished by kissing him on the forehead and smiling. "Feel better?"

He nodded; surprised despite himself that he did actually feel a bit better for this. "I love you too mummy." He said, rubbing his fists against his cheeks to wipe away the tears, before giving his mother one last hug around her neck, and scampering off to get ready for school. He was ready to face the uncertain reality that lay ahead of him now.

* * *

Natrat had made sure that Ryuk was there that day; after all, he remembered the date of Beatrice's death with clarity. After all he was the one that had changed it, so he should know. He was sad, partly because Beatrice would be gone forever in just a few hours, but mostly because poor Beyond would have no parents left to look after him. He had heard the request from Beatrice in her words to Beyond that morning, he knew that by her mentioning a 'someone watching over' him, she was asking him to watch over her son if and when she died. The request was unnecessary; he would continue 'watching' for as long as he and the boy both lived, as long as Ryuk was willing.

Even Ryuk seemed to be in sombre mood. Well, he had been watching the family for over six years now, so even he would be a little attached, and sad to see her go. Jealous and Rem had come along for the occasion. They were interested to see how Beatrice would die, so it was quite a gathering around the observation pool that day, almost like a farewell party for the poor human.

* * *

Beyond was reluctant to release his mother's hand that morning in the playground. He clung on tightly as they walked through the gates. Despite his acceptance of the upcoming events as of that morning, he still found his hand refusing to let go despite what he was telling it. Eventually he managed to detach himself, and giving his mother a hug and a kiss on the cheek, with a heartfelt 'goodbye'. This was the final goodbye between them, but he didn't let on, he was still determined that his mother would not spend her last few hours worrying about his behaviour.

He glanced back, for one last look as he made his way into the building. His mother was smiling as she chatted amiably with another of the assorted parents ringing the entrance. He smiled half-heartedly. His mother had no idea what was coming, but at least she was able to spend her last hours happy. She caught his glance, and he waved at her as her went through the door. The last time they would see each other.

He spends the morning silent. He doesn't speak to the teacher or to any of the students. He merely sits there and watches the clock, watching the time tick round to the moment of his mother's death. He wonders for the first time how it will happen. Will she be attacked like his father was? Or will it be an accident? Perhaps she'll be hit by a car, at least that would be quick…

When the clock hits the time he suddenly starts crying. The teachers panicked, why is he crying? They've been involved in a perfectly safe activity so he can't have hurt himself, and his mother would have told them if there was anything wrong at home. Beyond stays silent except for an occasional sobbing noise. He can't tell them he's crying because his mother's dead, and he's lost the only family he had left. They take him out of the classroom since he's disturbing the lesson and sit him down in the nice comfy chairs that occupy the office. They try to phone the emergency contact numbers. They can't reach his mother at home so they ring her work number. Of course she isn't there; apparently she didn't turn up that morning. The woman in the office doesn't tell Beyond this but apparently there was an accident on the train line she uses to get to work, a train had been derailed, which they hoped had only caused her to be delayed. They said they'll ask her to ring back if she arrives.

As expected, she did not ring back. Beyond stayed in the office for a while, but then they took him back into the classroom for story time. At the end of the day, Beyond went outside with the rest of the children and watched forlornly as they left with their parents. As time ticked by the playground cleared, and Beyond was left standing there with his teacher. They went back inside to wait. Beyond sat on a chair in the deserted classroom with his head in his hands. Again the thought of what would happen now came to mind. An assistant teacher came into the classroom to offer reassurance as his teacher went to the office to use the phone again. He gave the assistant teacher a baleful look and she backed off a little, intimidated by both his eyes and his expression.

The teacher meanwhile was working on the emergency contact details his mother had provided. Unfortunately these were the numbers they'd called before, as well as the number of Beyond's elderly neighbour. When she got through to Beatrice's workplace again she finally received the news. Apparently they'd just been contacted by the clean-up crews for the train accident that had occurred earlier, and Beatrice's body had been among those killed. Her workplace had been contacted as they'd found their phone number with her belongings. The teacher did not want to break the bad news to Beyond, so instead she called Social Services who would be the ones to take over the situation now.

They sent someone down to take Beyond. She took him to one side and told him gently that there had been an accident, and his mother had been involved, that she was dead and he wouldn't see her again. Beyond nodded silently. Then she said she was going to take him home so they could pack up some of his stuff, and then he would go with her, and tomorrow they would find him somewhere new to live. He also accepted this in silence and went with her to her car.

When they arrived at his house which was only a short distance from the school, she knocked on the door of the neighbour's house whilst Beyond sat and watched from the passenger seat. After the situation had been explained the social worker had obtained a spare key, and let beyond into the house as she fetched a suitcase from the back of the car.

They packed some clothes and his pyjamas, and a few of his toys and books. She said they'd get the rest of his stuff later. They left the house again, returning the key, and she drove him to her house.

Beyond spent the evening sitting silently in front the television. Not paying attention, instead feeling rather detached. He didn't really know how to respond to the situation. It was all very strange and his body didn't seem to have grasped the situation quite yet. He supposed, detachedly, that this was a shock reaction, and everything would catch up to him later. The social worker, after providing him with a meal, which he ate a little of despite a lack of appetite, spent her evening on the phone, trying to find a relative he could live with, and when that proved fruitless, she made an arrangement for him to be sent to an orphanage.

Beyond communicated very little over the next week, and when he did it was largely through gestures such as nodding or shaking his head when asked questions. He was moved into the orphanage, but he avoided people as much as he could. The social worker returned one day and brought him along to the simple funeral that had been arranged for his mother. He hadn't been allowed to see her body. It was severally broken in the accident, but her death had been as quick and painless as Beyond had hoped. He felt slightly better after the funeral, it was a sense of finality, of closing, and he felt ready to take on the new chapter of his life.


	10. Chapter 10

A/N: Wheee!! Chapter 10. Double digits, yay!! Ok, crazy obsessive happiness over. No wait, Anne randomly came to visit (which motivated me to start this). And Helen and Sarah are visiting on Halloween, yay! Ok… I think I'm fine now. Uni's started, my project is terrifying, although that seems to be a general consensus, lectures start Monday, and I'm debating whether to change modules. My housemates are all nice people and there's 16 of us sharing a kitchen (oh the horror, oh the piles of dirty dishes… wait there aren't any of those… yet, it has only been a week). I have yet to breach the highly important subject of Death Note with any of them. although most of them have probably never heard of it.

But you didn't come here to read about my life, you came here to read about Beyond Birthday's, so I guess I'll stop rambling and get on with the chapter.

Oh, and big thanks to those wonderful people that commented last chapter. You motivated me to start this instead of doing pointless university work (why bother, lectures haven't started yet).

Disclaimer: I still don't own Death Note. Also spoilers for L's real name.

* * *

Beyond had been at the orphanage now for three months. He'd barely spoken a word since he arrived there. He communicated in gestures, by pointing and by nodding or shaking his head when asked a direct question. Nothing they did could entice him to speak, although this may have been helped by the fact that Beyond was smarter than the resident psychologist. It hadn't taken him long to realise that with his mother gone, he didn't have to pretend any more. He no longer had to act like any other child of almost seven. He didn't have to play with them, or talk to them, or act like he enjoyed the same things. He was able to up the level of books he read without suspicion and was often found in the small library that belonged to the large orphanage he was now a member of. He also was able to display his intelligence without fear of repercussions. Whilst he refused to speak at school it soon became obvious to his teachers that his level of understanding was way above average, although the didn't like his bored expression staring at them from the back of the classroom, as if he was demanding silently that they do something more interesting.

Then the day came when the orphanage gave every student a test. Apparently it was a national experiment to find out how orphans performed relative to students from families with both parents still alive. The experiment was being performed by a Quillish Whammy; a famous inventor who was known for his charity towards orphans in the past, and the orphanage Beyond was a member of was all too willing to get everyone of its residents to participate. So of course Beyond did too. He enjoyed the tests, they were a lot more challenging than anything he'd done at school, there were lots of logical problems which he particularly enjoyed, even though he refused to give spoken answers and wrote them down instead. After the tests were over he was surprised to find that the other children, most of whom were older than him, had found the tests incredibly difficult and had not managed to answer any of the questions properly. This made Beyond feel happy, since he knew he'd done well, and if he'd been a different sort of person he might have gloated, but of course he didn't, and not just because he was still not speaking. The tests were compiled and sent off, and no one thought any more of it for the longest time.

Time passed. Beyond fell into a state of seemingly perpetual boredom, and started resorting to more extreme measures to keep it at bay. _("I can sympathise with that" Ryuk had said.)_ He hadn't slept well since has mother had died, and was more likely to be found asleep at school than anywhere else (_but the lessons were so dull, he couldn't help it)_. Instead he was more likely to spend his nights exploring the orphanage undetected. He often broke into the kitchen in search of his favourite foodstuff. The sticky sweetness of the strawberry jam, cheered him up, by reminding him of happier days and particularly of his mother who had practically raised him on the substance. It helped quiet the aching hole of despair within. He had fun with his secret night time games. As well as the kitchen, he was also prone to stealthily breaking into the rooms of other students as they slept, and rearranging their possessions so they had a beautiful expression of confusion on their faces when they came down to breakfast the next morning. He was, of course, careful to leave no evidence of his wanderings, and no one ever suspected the quietly intelligent boy of doing anything other than sleeping at night.

When he was feeling less devious, he generally found his way onto the roof of the orphanage. It was cold up there at night, especially since it was late winter/early spring and he was generally only wearing his pyjamas, but he didn't mind. He enjoyed the peaceful silence up there, which could only be found when he was isolated from others. He watched the night sky, as the clouds drifted past, blanking out the stars as they flowed by invisibly, causing the small lights to twinkle, occasionally illuminated by the moon, giving it a halo of light. He knew the names of the constellations and would often try to pick them out, telling himself the stories the Greeks had told about the pictures in the sky. Being on the roof allowed him to feel detached from the world, and was the only place he allowed himself to speculate deeply on the events of his past. Eventually he would get too cold and would have to hurry back inside and dive under his covers to warm up.

* * *

Ryuk and Natrat had mixed opinions on Beyond's night time expeditions. Whilst Ryuk found it hilariously funny when Beyond played tricks on his unsuspecting fellow orphans, Natrat vaguely disapproved. He worried that Beyond would get into trouble if he was caught. On the other hand he liked it when Beyond went out onto the roof. He felt closer to the poor boy. Natrat was, in a way, the only family Beyond had left, and he wasn't able to be there for him like he wanted. But when beyond stood on the roof in silence Natrat could pretend he was there with him, even though he couldn't see, and had to rely on Ryuk for descriptions. Ryuk on the other hand found these nights's to be dreadfully dull, and preferred to spend them sitting munching on an apple waiting for something interesting to occur.

And eventually something very interesting, from all three of their perspectives, occurred…

* * *

It was a dull Thursday afternoon when the man arrived at the orphanage. He looked to be in his early sixties and was sensibly attired. He called himself 'Wherever Wellington' and claimed to be a relative of Beyond Birthday. He said alliterative names were a tradition in his family, and it was quite frequent that parent's chose more… unusual names for their children, finding the range that were available to be quite restricting. Hence 'Wherever' and 'Beyond'. He said he wanted to take Beyond to come and live with him. He also had all the paperwork necessary to prove that he was indeed a relative of the boy, and the administrators at the orphanage had to admit it looked genuine enough, and he _was_ on the system. So they allowed him to meet the boy to see if Beyond wanted to go live with the man.

Beyond was introduced to him. A quick glance above the man's head showed him that the name he was using was not his actual name. It was a fake; the man's real name was 'Quillish Whammy'. Beyond remembered that name as the one belonging to the man who had set the tests he'd done a few months before. He decided the man was interesting enough solely for this reason.

The man who called himself Wellington, but was really Whammy, spoke at length to Beyond before the watchful eyes of the orphanage staff, telling him how they were related, and all about the place where he lived and where he would take Beyond to, if he wanted, and this was what the local school was like, and there was such and such interesting things for him to do, and there was a big library because he'd heard the boy liked reading. And Beyond nodded and smiled and made appropriate faces of wonderment as and when required, whilst in his head he knew everything the man said was a lie. Because on his face, which was turned away from the other adults and faced the boy was an expression that said 'this is all a lie, but if you come with me, I can give you a life that is a lot less boring'. And Beyond believed that face. It reminded him of his grandfather for some reason. Beyond couldn't really remember any of his grandparents, but the man in front of him seemed to radiate 'grandfatherliness'. He wanted to go with the man, since he seemed intelligent and seemed to promise interesting things. Beyond made no protest about the man or his fake identity, and in return the man did not seem to require Beyond to speak.

It took no longer than half an hour before Beyond was upstairs packing his meagre belongings to take with him. That was all he needed to do before leaving. He had no friends to say goodbye to and no form of attachments to building or anything or anyone within it. He hurried back down the stairs with his stuff. And after watching the man sign a few papers with his pretend name, he followed him out of the orphanage.

* * *

The man had loaded Beyond's belongings into the back of a very fancy looking black car, and opened the front passenger door so he could climb in. then he got in the drivers seat himself, and before driving off he reintroduced himself to the boy.

"Well, as you might have guessed, being an incredibly smart boy, Wherever Wellington is not my real name, nor am I a relative." Beyond nodded to show he had figured this out, and had already accepted this fact, and was still willing to accompany the older man. The older man started the engine of his car and they set off.

"My real name is Quillish Whammy and I have recently opened an orphanage myself. Only my orphanage is special, it's not like the one you've been in. we only take on the most gifted individuals, and I've searched the country to find the best of the country's orphans. And out of all of them, you performed the second best." Beyond twitched slightly in annoyance at the thought of someone beating him. "He and you will receive more training and lessons than the other students, with the ultimate aim of becoming worthy of the title of L, who is the world's greatest detective. Or at least he will be after he's solved a few more cases and is a bit better known. L will become a symbol of justice across the world, although it's more like 'L is Justice' or at least that's how we want him to be seen. And you will be trained to take over should anything happen to him."

Beyond's red eyes sparkled. He could be justice. If he worked hard and did well enough at this place, he would be able to do what his father had always wanted him to do, which was help people. This was an opportunity he couldn't afford to miss, and was proud that he'd been picked out for it. He smiled at Mr. Whammy.

"Do you accept the responsibility of this task?"

Beyond nodded.

"Well in that case, from this point forward you shall have to give up your name. We keep your identity secret whilst you stay at the house, and you must not tell your real name to anyone. Do you understand?

Beyond nodded again. Of course your identity was always a super-hero's biggest secret, so it made sense for a super-detective, or a super-detective in waiting to do the same.

"Ok, from this point forward you shall be known as 'B'. Although we'll give you another name to use when we get there. The other boy will be going by 'A'. Oh, and my alias, the one I use when I work with L is Watari."

Beyond accepted this quietly. Whilst he didn't mind the name B, he didn't like that the other boy was 'A', it implied he was superior, that he came before him. Although he supposed it could be that his name began with an A. Maybe this L's real name began with an L too. He supposed he'd find out soon enough.

The two were silent for the remainder of the drive, which was mainly by motorway. Beyond watched out the window looking at all the traffic. It had been a long while since he'd travelled this far by car. Eventually they turned off at Winchester, and drove for a short distance, although Beyond wasn't quite sure of the exact route as it was getting dark. Eventually the car slowed to a stop outside a large building. In the fading light, Beyond could make out a clock tower at one end of the stone building. When they'd stopped he climbed out of the car tiredly, hoping that whatever it was there was left to do today, that it could be done quickly.

As Mr. Whammy unloaded his possessions, Beyond heard a shout of "Watari" from the entrance of the building. He turned to see a boy, a few years older than himself running towards the man. The boy's black hair was in disarray, and he wore no shoes. Beyond wondered if running on the gravel was hurting his feet. He also wondered if this was the other boy Mr. Whammy had mentioned. But no, after giving the old man a brief hug, the boy turned to look at him piercingly. Beyond could easily read the letters over his head. 'L Lawliet'. He was surprised it was that easy. The detective L's name was L. he almost laughed, but held it in as he contemplated the young age of the detective.

L took a step forward and offered his hand "hello. You must be B. Watari said he was going to fetch you. I'm L."

"L?" said Beyond, the first word he's spoken in six months. Then asked, contemplatively, "You're Justice?"


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11:

AN: Before I get on with the story, let me tell you another little story (co-created by Dragonrider4000 in an insane MSN conversation). You see right about now Mello will have started uni. Maybe he started last year I don't know; anyway the truth is he came to _my_ university (he wouldn't go to Oxbridge. His personality wouldn't fit there I think…). Why? Well our uni has a chocolate society for a start. The SU probably gives the club money to buy chocolate, and Mello would probably join for the free chocolate, rapidly become club president and turn the club into a uni wide mafia of sorts… How do I know he's at my uni? I found chocolate in my printer… that's a sign that Mello is defiantly around here somewhere…

Although at this point in my story Mello is only one (aww….) and therefore won't be arriving at Whammy's for some time. So I better get on with writing what's going on there…

Disclaimer: I don't own Death Note.

Oh, and I'm going to write a one-shot starring L, B and A for Halloween, so look out for it.

* * *

"L," scolded Watari as the boy let go of B's hand. "Aren't you supposed to be studying?"

"But, Watari! I calculated there was an 87 percent chance of you arriving home during this hour, and I wanted to make sure I was here to see the new boy when he got here."

"And now you have. No go back upstairs and finish up today's work on Japanese. You know you'll never be able to take cases from Japan if you don't learn the language. I will be testing you later, so if you want a case to work on at the weekend you'll go and do it."

"…" Beyond watched as the other boy wavered between curiosity about the new arrival, and his desire to do well and solve cases. "If I go now, can we have cake tonight? You know, to Celebrate B's arrival."

Beyond watched as the older man rolled his eyes, but nodded at the black haired boy. L waved a quick bye-bye to him, and then scurried away. As he turned to watch him go back into the house he spotted another person lurking nervously by the doorway. As the other boy spotted him looking, he slipped back inside. B assumed this was A, the boy who would be his rival for the chance to become justice…

"Don't worry, you'll meet him later. We'll go and put your stuff in your room, and then I'll give you a quick tour, and then you can unpack, and then we'll all have dinner." And with that said, Watari picked up his bags and led Beyond into the building.

* * *

After a quick tour of the building, Beyond had discovered many things. After opening his mouth to speak to L, he figured he might as well start talking properly to people again. After all if he didn't speak he couldn't ask questions, and he had lots of those. His lack of speaking had also been partly due to a lack of interesting people to talk with, and if he didn't speak he wouldn't have to waste his time speaking to boring people.

So he found out a lot of things. He found out that he, L, A and Watari were the only people at the orphanage apart from a couple of staff members that worked in the kitchen. There would be teaching staff here too, and eventually there would be more children. Not necessarily to compete for the title of L's successor, but for highly intelligent children to take advantage of the advanced program the orphanage would offer. He would eventually extend his search for the world's smartest children to other countries, although for the moment he was satisfied with the level of intelligence found in A and B, in his own country. He didn't tell Beyond where he'd found L, understandable, Watari was obviously very keen on anonymity, especially when it came to his most beloved prodigy.

He'd found out a bit about the programme they'd be on. They'd do a lot of work on languages, because they were a valuable skill for an international detective to have. They'd also cover maths, science and psychology, and of course law was a big section of their course. All other parts of the standard curriculum would also have to be covered as well, and that meant that they would have to do some form of physical exercise a couple of times a week as well, and these sessions would apparently be covered by a friend of Watari's, and would feature self-defence in addition to other sports, because it was important.

When they were a bit older Watari would let them work through some of L's old cases, and perhaps, depending on the workload L was getting they might be allowed to take some of his lesser cases on together. Of course that wouldn't be for a few years, as L had only taken on a couple of small cases so far, as Watari was currently screening the cases based on the type of crime and the country it had come from. L was only ten after all, and Watari didn't want to despoil his still innocent mind. L probably wouldn't become much of a well known figure until he was able to take on any case, but Watari was certain that in the not too distant future he would be known globally.

He left Beyond to unpack and went off to find L. Beyond was impressed by his room. It was much larger than the one he'd had at the orphanage and he didn't have to share. There was more than enough space to put everything he'd brought with him, and there was a proper desk for working at, and a large bookcase stocked with a variety of books that he assumed Watari believed were vital reading for a detective in training, fiction as well as non-fiction, and this was in addition to the large library Watari had shown him on the brief tour. The desk was stocked with plenty of paper and stationary. The room was in general, tasteful and generically decorated, presumably to allow B to do with it whatever he wanted.

After B had thoroughly explored his room, he managed to find his way back downstairs and to the dining room. The boy he'd spotted earlier was sitting at a table, reading a book. He glanced up briefly at t B's arrival, but turned back to what he was reading. This seemed rather antisocial, but B shook it off as simple shyness and awkwardness at starting a conversation in the large, empty, silent room. The boy had short blonde hair, and was wearing a large pair of glasses. He looked to be about nine or ten years old. The red lettering above his head proclaimed him to be Adrian Anderson, confirming B's assumption that this was indeed A. clearly Watari's earlier fib about alliterative naming had been partially true, he was the only person B had seen here so far whose real name wasn't.

Then Beyond looked at the lifespan under the boy's name. Since his mother's death, he'd got into the habit of working out the lifespan of everyone he came across, and could now do the calculation almost effortlessly in his head. He was hoping that it would eventually become automatic, that he'd see the numbers and instantly know when that person would die, without going to the dull method of translating them. He'd already worked out the lifespans of Watari and L, their death were both a long way into the future, although Watari's was a while before L's, understandable since he was a lot older. He was somewhat disconcerted by this, since he was supposed to be here in case something happened to L, and by the look of things that wouldn't be happening for a long, long time.

Worryingly, as he now worked out A's lifespan, it was much closer, just a few years away. Beyond wasn't sure what to make of this. One the one hand it was good- if the boy died he most certainly wouldn't be competition for L's title. On the other hand B would presumably be living with this boy until that time, and would get to know each other well, possibly as friends or rivals or both, this was inevitable, no matter how hard they both tried to keep their distance. B knew that when this boy died, he would probably be hurt. Nevertheless, he grudgingly accepted this possibility, and decided that he might as well get to know the boy while he still could, and just not think too far ahead, and he went and sat down next to the boy. There was no harm getting to know him, so long as he didn't get too close.

* * *

Ryuk did not inform Natrat of the lifespans of Beyond's new acquaintances. He did however tell him about the bright look that appeared in his eyes every time he spoke to his new idol, L Lawliet. He also told him about how A glared at Beyond with a pained expression every time he turned his back, despite acting friendly every time they spoke. Beyond never suspected anything was amiss, but as Natrat explained to Ryuk, A was probably jealous or at least put out, by having a boy three years younger than him as his equal, and on the same course as him, learning at the same rate. Pride did seem to go hand in hand with intelligence, although he was pleased to note that Beyond didn't seem to have cultivated a great deal of it. A's jealously had seemed to wear off after a short time, and he seemed to change, acting friendlier towards the younger boy.

Apart from the initial apparent animosity from A, Beyond seemed to settle in to the new orphanage quite happily. He was enjoying being challenged by the advanced lessons, and strove hard to do the best he possibly could, and he especially liked the intelligent company, that he could talk to without feeling that the other person had no clue what he was on about. He didn't see L too often, only occasionally during mealtimes, when the older boy sat and ate his dinner reluctantly, obviously wanting to eat dessert, but Watari wouldn't let him unless he had at least one proper meal per day.

The surprising thing was that Watari did not seem to mind B's apparent addiction to strawberry jam, and in fact made sure he was supplied with it. Apparently years of experience with someone as quirky as L had taught him that sometimes genius was fuelled by strange things, and it was best not to ask questions or deprive said genius. It was possible that he'd heard about the disappearing jam at Beyond's old orphanage, and had put the two together.

Natrat was also informed about the achievement files Whammy was keeping on the two prodigies, within which they were referred to, somewhat coldly, as 'Alternate' and 'Back-up', within which A was consistently placed ahead of Beyond, if only slightly.

As time passed, A seemed to change his attitude towards Beyond, becoming less timid, and more forceful, determined to get to know B, stopping calculating the outcome of every word he said. Along with being proud, A also seemed to be very paranoid. B supposed this was probably due to whatever events it were that had led him to becoming an orphan. He didn't pry, secrecy was valued at Whammy's and his own discretion told him that whatever events were in A's past, he was probably better off not asking. A wouldn't appreciate it.

L remained a mystery to B. He'd been at the orphanage for two months, and he had discovered nothing more about the reclusive individual than his name, his death day, and the fact that he had an extreme love of sugary foods

He was therefore surprised one day when he ran into L in the corridors. L, who had been wearing his usual emotionless mask, brightened at the sight of the younger boy.

"Oh, B, I'm glad I found you. You need to come and help me, Mr. Sea's gone on holiday, and I can't do this by myself."

Mr. Sea was Watari's friend the sports teacher, and this confused Beyond. As far as he knew, L didn't do any sport, or at least, he never joined in with the others. But L didn't offer Beyond any further explanation as he grabbed him by the elbow and dragged him outside. B was surprised to discover that L was leading him to the tennis courts.

"Honestly!" said L as he dug through the equipment stores. "I don't know what he was thinking going off on holiday at a time like this. I need to practice! It's not long until the competition and I want to win!"

"Competition?" asked B, bewilderedly as L passed his a racquet and a couple of tennis balls.

"The British junior tennis championships. I'm competing under an alias of course, and against Watari's better judgement. But it's no good just playing if you can't compete, how else are you supposed to know how good you are? And how else am I actually meant to be challenged. And the competition is low profile enough that I won't draw too much attention to myself anyway"

"Then why are you asking me? I'm not very good."

"You're not. But Mr. Sea isn't here, the rest of the teachers aren't here because it's the weekend, and they aren't supposed to know about me anyway, and A is quite frankly appalling at any form of sport, so you're the best I can find at short notice. And even if you're bad, you can occasionally manage to hit the ball back so you're better than nothing."

So apparently, L was doing the best of a bad job. Not that Beyond minded, he welcomed competition in any form. Even though he knew he be beaten completely and utterly, it was better than A's approach to sport. They played for an hour, and apparently Beyond performed better than L had expected, which was probably because Beyond had wanted to perform well in front of his idol. In fact he had apparently performed well enough for L to ask him to train with him until his coach, Mr Sea, returned. This was apparently how Watari had first encountered the orphanage's sport teacher and come to befriend him and to employ him at the orphanage in addition to tennis training for L. In return for his help, L invited Beyond to come and watch him play at the tournament.


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N:** I'm really truly massively sorry for the huge time between updates. And I was doing so well at regular updating too. Not that I haven't been posting weekly, just not here… Sorry… I got a bit stuck, and confused about what I was doing with A, and distracted myself with other projects, like the code geass story I've writing. Saying I was confused about A, it seems his punishment is to be the main focus of this chapter.

Oh, and I you missed my Halloween story you should go find it, fits in nicely on either side of this chapter.

Anyway, since I think I've resolved the issue's I had with this, hopefully I will continue updating with some degree of regularity, maybe once every two weeks? I want to work on the Code Geass one at the same time, but I don't think I have time to write two chapters a week. Way too much project work.

**Disclaimer:** I don't own death note. And I apologise if this chapter isn't worth the wait, I'm not brilliantly happy with it, but I've made you wait long enough.

Oh; some parts of this chapter may seem to contradict last chapter. However I've made a couple of small changes to the last chapter, mostly relating to the relationship between A and B.

----

Unsurprisingly, to B at least, L had won the tennis championship. He'd thoroughly trounced the competition, not due to his superior athletic ability, which he didn't have, he was quite scrawny really whatever he wanted to believe, and younger than most of the other competitors. His victories were largely down to his analytical speed, his ability to read his opponents movements and body language, and his fast reaction times to it. The other thing that gave him an edge was his ability to make others think he was a worse player than he was. His poor posture both on and off the court, as well as his blank expression, were extremely good at tricking people into thinking he was incompetent, despite having witnessed his tennis skills, when they watched his matches.

B and A had both gone along to support him, cheering him on with the fake name he was competing under, the one he referred to as his 'tennis alias'. B wondered just how many fake names L had.

It was during this summer that new orphans started to arrive at Whammy's House. After all, an orphanage with only two official residents, A and B, looked a little suspicious, and Watari thought it was a good idea to allow other children to benefit from the superior programme his orphanage offered. The chosen children were all exceptionally intelligent, well they'd have to be if they were to cope, but they couldn't come close to the original duo, and certainly not to L.

The new orphans did not know the true purpose of Whammy's House, that being the training of super-detectives to succeed L. Beyond and A were banned from talking about their extra-curricular lessons, or their reason for being here. They were supposed to be just two unremarkable individuals amongst the crowd. They weren't allowed to mention L either.

L was rarely seen amongst the other children, although he emerged from hiding occasionally to communicate with Beyond, or with A. the other orphans, from their few glimpses of the mysterious individual, seemed to be under the impression that he was ill, and was kept isolated for his own protection. Watari encouraged this rumour.

Neither A nor Beyond had any problems with the act, or the secrecy. They'd been here several months and the constant paranoia and the need for secrecy that permeated the air around Watari and L, had infected them too. They had been trained into it.

Beyond, for the most part, was enjoying the programme. At first he hadn't liked it, he was too used to everything being effortless, and hadn't like actually having to work for a change. But, as he got used to it, he learned to enjoy the challenge, continuously trying to push himself harder, fueled by the knowledge that A was still ahead of him. He refused to acknowledge the two year gap between them. He _would _close the gap. Because once he had surpassed A, he could set his sights on L

A found Beyond's intense perseverance to be a little unnerving. He didn't mind if B became his equal, but he didn't want to be left behind. He kept working hard for this reason, and because he wanted B to push himself harder. He quite fancied the idea of them succeeding L's title together. Nevertheless, he felt quite securely, and very irrationally, that he was better than B, and would continue to be better than B. it was only he natural. A came first in the alphabet, A was in front of B. it was only natural that all other areas would follow this pattern. Of course he didn't know that B was the first letter in B's real name in the same way that his began with an A, so he assumed the letters were assigned that way because he was better. He didn't want to think otherwise.

Even so, A wished that B would see him as something more than a rival, not just as someone he had to beat to achieve his goals. A wanted B as a friend, but instead all he got in return was this distance from the younger boy, as if he hated him for some reason he couldn't comprehend. He would have liked it for B to see him the same way he did with L, like a big brother. He wanted B to be the little brother he'd never had…

* * *

A wanted a little brother. He'd almost had one once, when he'd been younger. That's how he lost his mother. She'd died in childbirth and her second son had been taken with her. He and his father had lost the most important person in their lives, and a future they'd been looking forward to at the same time. He'd handled the sudden change much better than his father. He was younger and his mind was more flexible, not that he hadn't been upset, but he'd quickly managed to pick himself up and return to his normal life.

His father had not coped so well. He'd lost his wife, a woman he'd known for a long time, who he had loved more than anyone, who he had depended on for a lot of things. She had gone, and now he had to take care of himself and his son all by himself. Taking care of the young Adrian was something _she_ had mostly done, and it was added difficulty for him. He'd been hoping the extra work would distract him from his depression, and for a short while it had seemed to work. He'd put everything into taking care of his son, making him happy, distracting him from the loss of his mother.

Eventually, after about six months of struggling, he'd cracked from the stress.

He'd stopped talking to his son. He'd started going out in the evenings and returning home late. A was rarely awake when he returned, but on the few times he had, he'd been terrified by the sight of his father. He had a tendency to get violent, so when A smelt the alcohol on his breath, he tried to stay away. He didn't hate his father, even though he didn't like the way he had turned to drink as if it would solve all his problems. Rather he pitied him. It certainly didn't solve any problems. He spent more and more time out of the house, down a bar somewhere, and A saw less and less of him, and had to take care of himself more and more. Eventually his father had been fired from his job. This didn't serve to snap him out of his depression as A had hoped, but instead made everything worse. Until, eventually one night A's father hadn't returned home at all.

A had been taken away to an orphanage. No one told him what had happened to his father, except that he was dead. He found out what had happened later on, when he did a little secretive research of his own. His father had drunk too much as usual. And it seemed that his depression had finally gotten the better of him. Whilst on the way home he had taken a small detour. He'd ended up at the train station. It was late, and the place was mostly empty, but there were a few late trains still running. And his father had stepped out in front of one. From the security footage the police department had looked at after, it hadn't been an accident. It had been deliberate. His father had killed himself and left him all alone.

A had been horrified. He knew his father had been depressed, but he hadn't known it was that bad. In fact, he'd thought his father had been getting a little better. Apparently his analytical skills, normally brilliant, had been wrong that time. He had sworn then that he would do better than his father, that if he ever felt that way he would try to resolve the problem. And if there were people around that cared for him, as he had for his father, he would never do anything as selfish as killing himself.

He'd lived at that orphanage for two years, and then Mr. Whammy came along and brought him to his special orphanage. He'd met B and L, and along with Mr. Whammy, he thought he could have some sort of proper family again, as well as a good future to look forward to. But this distance from B was not something he wanted. He knew it might have been partly his fault for his initial animosity towards the younger boy. But now, he was determined to make B accept him as a friend.

A made this resolution in mid-September, as the official school program for all of the orphans began, decreasing his spare time as he still had his detective studies in addition to this. He wasn't sure what to do about it though. He could just come out and confront B, and demand he stop being so cold towards him. It just wasn't in his character, he was too afraid that if he did so, B would outright reject him, and say he didn't want to be friends, or worse, that he hated him. All the same, he wished he was brave enough to do such a thing. It would be simpler.

Instead he decided on a more passive approach, slowly sidling his way into B's life, whilst simultaneously trying to diminish that gap that he knew B felt. He figured that if B believed he was closer to A in terms of intelligence, that he wouldn't push him away.

Of course this wasn't the main reason B was acting distant, but it seemed to work anyway.

He started to spend more time with B, generally under the pretense of wanting to work on homework together to get it done faster. B definitely seemed to be warming up to him. His pursuit was aided by the sudden decrease of contact with L. It seemed Watari had opened up the variety of cases he was allowed to work on, and he was therefore getting more of them. To L, working on cases seemed to come before spending time with A and B, and the increased distance from him certainly meant that B had to rely on A more for conversations on equal terms.

When they did get to spend time with L, B was constantly seeking his attention. The older pair found his antics amusing. And it was at these times that A felt that the three of them were just like brothers. For the three of them to have fun, to be happy, was an achievement in itself. And what made them more like brothers were the times when they had a stubborn disagreement over something petty, and tried to avoid each other, as A and B were prone to doing occasionally probably because of their competitiveness, and they still refused to let anyone speak a bad word about the other. And L, since he was most frequently the third party observer of these quarrels, he was often the one who as the responsible older brother coaxed the two of them into making peace.

Sometimes B would argue with L. Well… not exactly argue, but generally be sulky and refuse to talk to him. This was generally because L refused to talk to them about the cases he was taking. He said that B was too young. B hated this more than anything. He hated being the youngest, and whenever his age was brought up he would get moody. Although this was a situation easily resolved by a peace offering from L, almost without exception a jar of jam, one that was nicer, and more expensive than what B normally was allowed.

However, disagreements between the three of them were rare occurrences. B was very good at breaking any degree of tension in the room they were in. his acting skill was one that had been highly praised by Watari, after all, he'd said that it was often very helpful if one had to go undercover on a case, although the man hoped that none of them would have to do that. B liked to break tension by doing an impersonation of L, although often greatly exaggerated. He would slip into a hunched posture, or bring his knees to his chest, whilst resting his thumb on his lips and adopting a blank expression. Then he would say something ridiculous in a completely serious tone, like "The probability of A running away to join the circus…23.7 percent." Or "The probability of L chaining himself to a murder suspect to prove his guilt… 65.3 percent." Which would generally make the others laugh and tension evaporate.

Yes, now that B had stopped being so cold, A was most certainly enjoying his time at Whammy's. He was looking forward to his future as a detective. He was defiantly looking forward to working alongside B, when they were finally allowed to take on cases by themselves. For the first time in a long while, he was truly happy.


	13. Chapter 13

A/N: Some creative interpretation here… I hope you'll forgive me. It's been a while since I've picked up my copy of Another Note, and I realised that I've not really been paying attention the the few facts Mello was kind enough to give me. So I've played about a bit, and come up with something that's vaguely in agreement with what Mello said at the end of the book. I've never been to Winchester so I don't know what it's like, but I imagine it's quite similar to York.

Also I don't know when I will next update. It'll hopefully be before Christmas, but if not it's because I'm revising for my exams in January. Which means I'll probably have written a lot, since I generally get a lot of inspiration for stories when I'm supposed to be working on something else.

Disclaimer: I don't own Death Note

* * *

Time continued to pass by. Ryuk and Natrat continued to watch Beyond, as he grew older at the orphanage for geniuses. Natrat continued to act proud of Beyond as the boy's knowledge in many fields grew, and he learned to speak several languages. Natrat either ignored or overlooked Beyond's increasing jealousy of A's position as first, or of L and the cases he took. The soft-hearted shinigami only wanted to see good in the boy, so this negative trait was something he refused to acknowledge, not that B demonstrated it much. On the surface he continued to act friendly towards A, although inwardly he was still trying not to get too attached. The two younger boys even took on a few cases together, under Whammy's supervision. Despite himself B couldn't help himself from getting more and more attached to A, a situation encouraged by the fact that the two of them saw increasingly less of L.

L was taking increasingly more high profile cases, and had even managed to make a few headlines, as a mysterious unnamed assistant or an anonymous tipster, although those were only in the cases where Watari hadn't acted fast enough to silence the press. L wasn't yet using his alias, since his origin was supposed to be shrouded in mystery. It would hardly do for there to be a large number of reports on fairly small cases L had solved in the UK before he had taken on larger, more global scale cases. It would be like saying 'this is where L came from' to anyone who may wish the detective harm in the future. Therefore Watari did his best to silence any reports of L's aid, and to destroy any records that remained in cases where he hadn't been quick enough.

L was taking on more cases now than he had been before, and had even taken a few international cases from mainland Europe or the US. Watari had said he needed international experience before he officially broke onto the detective scene as 'L'.

Therefore, L was increasingly absent from Whammy's. Watari had managed to convince him that his future as an international detective would run more smoothly if he actually had experience with other countries. He could only learn so much whilst cooped up in his room at the orphanage; after all, not all learning came from books. So whenever he received an international case, or even a case that was in a more distant area of the UK, he and Mr. Whammy would travel there. This also enabled the pair to acquire case information more easily.

But they weren't yet working as 'L' and 'Watari'. Though Whammy was more or less certain that his beloved prodigy was ready to take up the momentous task, he was waiting for a case of great magnitude with which to reveal L's deductive prowess to the world.

* * *

B was not happy on these occasions when L was not present at the orphanage. His behaviour, to A at least, looked as if B were trying to compensate for L's absence, was trying to fill his niche, by imitating the older detective.

B's initial parody of L, which had at first been a way of relieving the inevitable tensions that arose between the three genius minds, had evolved somewhat. Now, when B decided that he was going to imitate L, the similarities were downright scary. L's posture, mannerisms and speech patterns were reflected back perfectly. Some days, when B was missing L particularly strongly, he would go so far as to dress like the detective, wearing a white top and jeans, and trudging around barefoot. Luckily he was still easy to tell apart from the older boy. He was younger and therefore quite a bit shorter, and of course the colours of his hair and eyes were different. This meant that it was really only people who knew L who could tell what B was doing, so only A, and Roger Ruvie, another friend of Mr. Whammy's, who ran the orphanage in his absence, and a couple of the other teachers, knew enough to worry about the boy's behaviour.

Another, more deviant behaviour had also come about as a result. Beyond had resumed his nightly wanderings, his silent excursions through the rooms of the other Whammy's occupants. In addition to the lack of sleep garnered on these occasions aiding his ability to mimic L's sleepless expressions, he'd also picked up the habit of petty theft.

The things he stole were never valuable, or terribly important to their owner. It was generally just whatever struck his fancy at the time. Items of stationary, or books or random clutter. On the infrequent occasions when he was feeling particularly vindictive he would make a point of stealing a piece of homework that was due in the next day from his victim.

These thefts caused little disturbance to the orphanage as a whole, especially since the stolen items didn't remain stolen for long. Beyond had no interest in keeping a hold of what he took, since if the items were found to be hoarded in his room, it would be extremely obvious that he was responsible. It was more the thrill of sneaking about undetected, and making off with the possessions, as well as the challenge of remaining undiscovered, that he enjoyed. Thus he liked to leave the items lying around at the scene of his next theft, to the puzzlement of those who had things taken. It was like leaving a trail across the orphanage, taking from one place and leaving it where he stole the next thing from, a trail that amused him greatly.

This thievery only took place on the occasions when L was absent, so it was obvious that B was the culprit, to A anyway. He didn't say anything about it though. If the rest of the staff were too unobservant to spot such an obvious connection, he wasn't going to point it out. He didn't approve of B's behaviour, but he was causing no real harm, so he wasn't going to rat out his best friend.

* * *

It was during Beyond's third year at Whammy's House that L made his debut on to the global detective scene under his 'alias'. Though it was a case of global significance, the case was actually a lot closer to home than anyone could have predicted. At the time L was only thirteen, but he was about to become one of the best known detectives of all time.

The third world war, which had ended a just over a year previously, had had little to no effect on Beyond personally, although it had seen a good deal more children arrive at the house, as war-orphans, from various countries had to find places to go. Beyond had been too young to pay much attention to global politics leading up to the start of the war, and since he'd felt it had little to do with him, he went no further than following the daily news reports. The war had been brief, for a war on a global scale, and there had been few British casualties.

So it was unclear why it was _Winchester_ of all places, that was the target of the attack that had had the potential to bring the world back to its war-torn state once more.

* * *

It happened on the 31st of July, the height of the tourist season for the historical city of Winchester. The town was bustling with visitors from across the country, and from abroad. No one had any idea what was about to happen.

The attack was unexpected and well coordinated. It hit three places in the city; the hospital, the train station and the main shopping centre, near simultaneously. The attack caused pandemonium, and the initial loss of life was massive. The attack at the station damaged the track leading to a train derailment as it passed through the station, killing a large proportion of it's passengers as well as those who'd been in the station at the time. The attack at the hospital caused structural damage, trapping many inside and meaning those injured in the attack at the other locations could not be taken there to receive treatment. And, of course, in the shopping centre, a place bustling with both locals and tourists, there was a massive amount of injuries, many of them fatal.

In Whammy's house, the orphanage to the southwest of the city, the inhabitants sat quietly before the televisions, watching the reported death toll rise. Apparently it was clear as to the reason behind the attack, although not yet known why Winchester was the location. The attacks closely mirrored those which had sparked the third world war, terrorist attacks brilliantly engineered to cause maximum damage and fear, by targeting healthcare and travel services in addition to areas with large numbers of people.

It was feared that this attack might lead to the re-outbreak of war, if the culprits were not soon caught. These had not been suicide attacks. The bombs had been planted ahead of time, without attracting attention. Therefore those responsible were still out there, and the country, the world, was in fear that they would strike again.

* * *

That evening B couldn't sleep. The attack, so close to the place he now called home, had been particularly disturbing. And yet he knew this was no time for petty thievery. He got up from his bed late that night, finally giving up any chance of sleep. He wandered the silent halls, and eventually made his way to the roof.

The tranquil pocket of silence that was Whammy's House contrasted with the lights he could make out in the city, as the emergency services continued to work towards restoring order.

It was as he stood here, looking out over the city, that he felt a presence behind him. He remained silent as the presence approached, and laid a hand on his shoulder. He turned his head to acknowledge the presence, and managed a small smile on realising it was L.

"When did you get back?" he asked, breaking the mournful silence.

"This morning." replied L quietly, "before…"

The pair resumed their silent vigil, watching the light's sparkling in the city.

"Can you hear them?" asked L "the bells?"

Beyond listened, straining his ears to make out the distant ringing.

"Yes," he replied simply after a few moments.

"They're holding a late night service at the cathedral." L explained. "A vigil for the victims of the attack. They are praying for those who survived and for the souls of those lost."

Beyond remained silent, drawing comfort from the warm hand on his shoulder.

After a few moments L spoke again. "I'm going to take the case."

"You are?" asked B, surprised.

"Yes, as 'L'." stated L simply. "It's a big case. It will be my largest so far, but I know I can help. If I can solve it, if I can find those responsible for the bombing, I'll be able to take on more large scale cases, and help more people, solve more crimes, across the world. Of course, if I mess up, not only will I be disappointing all those people who are seeking Justice to be dealt to those responsible, I will not be able to use the title of L again. That title is not allowed to be associated with failures."

"I'm sure it won't" said B, resolutely., "If anyone can find the guys who did this, it will be you L."

L smiled. "I'm glad you have faith in me."

"Of course I have faith in you. You're L… and as Mr. Whammy says, 'to bear the title of L will mean to become Justice'. I want to be Justice too, so I'm glad I have you as a good example, someone whose lead I can follow, so that I can help people too." Beyond said emphatically. "If I didn't believe you were capable of helping people on occasions like this, there wouldn't be any point in me training as your successor would there?"

L looked down at Beyond, smiling at the boy. "I had no idea you felt so strongly."

"Of course," murmured Beyond, his voice becoming quiet. "Because… my father… he wanted me to be a hero. That's why you have to help solve this case L, so that if I do become your successor I can be a proper hero, like you will be."

"I better do a good job then."

The pair were silent once more. Then B turned to look up at his idol.

"L?" he whispered. "If you solve this case, does it mean you won't be around any more?"

"I don't know. It depends on whether Mr. Whammy makes me travel to solve cases like he has been, or whether he'll let me stay here whilst he travels. As much as I would like to stay here and solve cases, I don't think I'll be able to, at least not yet."

"L… I miss you when you're not here you know. I wish you could be here all the time."

L pulled the younger boy into a hug. "I miss you guys too. I worry about you when I'm not here. I just know you'll get yourself into trouble one day if I'm not here to watch over you."

The two stood silently for a few more moments, then Beyond yawned tiredly. Talking to L had made him feel better.

"You should go to bed." Said L

"I will," said B, pulling away from L and starting back towards the door. "Good luck L."

"Thank you B. Good night."


	14. Chapter 14

**AN:** Dear god, it's been forever since I updated this. Sorry my beloved readers, but I've been very busy with exams, and it's taken a while for me to get back to this. (I wanted to update my other one first since it seems more popular…). Also we're getting to the tipping point which makes me nervous. I kinda feel sorry for B, but canon is canon… he can't remain small and cute forever.

* * *

If Beyond had hoped that having a case _this_ local would mean that he saw more of L, he would have been disappointed. The only times he saw L whilst he was working on this case, were when Mr. Whammy dragged him out of his study and forced him to eat a proper meal. And those times L was uncommunicative with his potential successors, preferring to ponder further on his case, his mind clearly still upstairs.

The younger pair did not feel put out by the lack of attention from L, understanding that this was L's most important case to date, and any distractions or delays would mean he wouldn't shine quite so brightly as he was capable of. They knew that L had to display his full potential to the world; this case was pointless if it was unable to gain him the international reputation he sought and deserved.

Seeing L's devotion to the case made the pair of them work harder at their own studies, and Beyond's own competitiveness with A returned in full force.

* * *

Two and a half weeks after the 'Winchester Mad Bombings', as the media now referred to it, Mr. Whammy visited A and B during a language class.

"L has broken the case. He's asked me to ask _you_ if you want to be there when he reveals his findings to the task force working on the case."

B sprang up immediately, dashing towards the doorway, while A stood, in a somewhat more subdued fashion, though his excitement was still evident on his face, and followed B from the room.

The pair, though kept in the dark about L's progress on the case by both L and Watari up until this point, had nevertheless been following all the reports they could get hold of. They were keen to be among the first to hear the resolution to the case, as well as to be present at L's crowning moment.

"You've got to stay quiet though," said Whammy as he led the pair up through the house to L's study.

This was the first time that either of them had been in L's study, and they were surprised at how minimalistic the room was. There was no furniture except for a bookcase against the wall full of reference material. L was sat in the middle of the floor, surrounded by an organised chaos of files and folders full of case notes. Around him there were also several plates that had once contained cake, a small collection of empty teacups, and empty sweet wrappers scattered everywhere. In front of L was a computer. This was still pretty early in the age of personal computing, and the few machines the house possessed were far inferior to the one which sat before L. there was also a telephone lying on the floor beside it, and the two boys assumed that L had a connection to the fabled internet. (1)

L looked up as they entered, temporarily lowering the bag of marshmallows to indicate they should take a seat on the wooden floor.

"The call will be connected in one minute L" said Watari, glancing at his watch.

L plugged a small microphone into the phone. "This will change how my voice sounds so no one will recognise me," he informed the younger pair. "And I've connected up the other end of the phone to a speaker so you will be able to hear what they say."

There was a moment of silence as everyone held their breath, contemplating the seriousness of the occasion. Then L reached for the phone, raising the handset from its perch with his unique grip and placing it delicately on the floor. They all waited impatiently as they heard the sound of a dial tone, then, what seemed like an era later, in reality it was only a few brief seconds, there was a clicking noise and a voice was heard.

"Good afternoon. This is Detective Chief Inspector Smith of the Metropolitan Police."

"Good afternoon Inspector. This is L" said L into his microphone.

"L?" queried the Inspector. "Your… assistant contacted us. He said you have new information regarding the Winchester bombings case."

"I do. Can I assume you speak on behalf of the investigation team" asked L.

"Yes you can. In fact most of them are listening in now. We're all very anxious to hear if you have any new information on the case."

"In that case, I think you'll be satisfied to hear that I do. In fact, I believe that with the information I provide, you will be able to make the necessary arrests and bring the case to a close."

"You believe you have discovered the perpetrators? You know which organisation it was that planned the attack?"

"I do. And I can also inform you that thinking of that sort is the reason you have made so little progress on the case thus far."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, I understand that the supposed terrorists have made no demands in relation to this attack? This strikes me as highly unusual."

"Well, yes… it could be that we just missed it or something. Wait… how do you know there were no demands? We haven't released any information in regards to potential motivations behind the attack."

L smirked at the telephone. "Partly it was _because_ there was no press release on the subject. Surely if you knew you would have said something, in the very least to quieten public unease as to the reason for the attack. That's what made me suspicious. As for the rest, well, it was _elementary_ my dear inspector."

There was a shocked gasp from the other end of the phone. Obviously L's comment meant something to the other man (2). L placed a hand over his mouth to stifle a laugh.

"How did you get into our computers?"

"You've been sharing information on this case with a number of other countries. I merely had to listen in as it were. Your security system leaves a lot to be desired."

The man sighed. "Very well. Given that you've had unauthorised access to our information, and bothered contacting us to tell us that our security is unsound, I hope you are going to tell us what you have concluded from what you've taken?"

"That was my purpose in calling you. The truth is inspector, that the attacks weren't the plot of a terrorist group. They were, in fact, planned and carried out by a small group of ex-military British nationals."

"What?" the man exclaimed. "That is an outrageous claim. I hope you have evidence to support it."

"Of course, it was the evidence that led me to this conclusion. I wouldn't contact you without it."

"Go on then."

L took a deep breath, eyes flickering across to the other two who were looking on eagerly to discover how L had solved the case. Seeing their enthusiasm L smiled at them before speaking to the inspector. "Having concluded that the weaponry was set up well in advance of the attack, as no one recalled seeing any suspicious individuals that morning, a fact supported by the security footage recovered from two of the sites. I chose to examine the histories of the sites in regard to any construction, repair or maintenance work at each of the three locations over the past three months."

"As it turned out, all of them _had _had such work done, although given the differing nature of the tasks involved, all three were conducted by different companies. My next task was to track down who was working for each of these companies at the time the work was conducted, in particular who it was that worked at each of the sites. Although initially it seemed there was no connection, there was no one person who worked for more than one company, and no obvious connections between the companies. Upon looking deeper I discovered what I had been looking for. Some of the employees of these companies had been enlisted in the military during the war. They were in different companies and so a connection wasn't visible until I discovered that three of the men, each of whom had been employed at a different site prior to the attack, had been stationed at the same military base during the final weeks of the war.

"This base… it was the last known point of combat during the war. Before the ceasefire was declared it suffered one final attack, which killed 90 percent of the men stationed there. the three men in question were the only survivors from their platoons. It goes without saying that each of them lost many friends that day. And due to the ceasefire, they have had no chance to work out their anger at losing their companions; no doubt they feel that their killers have been allowed to go unpunished. I am fairly certain that this attack was designed in order to reignite international paranoia, causing the war to outbreak once more, so that they could achieve vengeance on those responsible."

"It is my understanding that the weapons were set up as early as a month before the attack, and were not discovered, mostly due to the fact that local security measures are not as stringent in Winchester as they are in other locations, and the explosives were unlikely to be detected ahead of time. This is the reason why Winchester was chosen, as opposed to an area of greater impact, like London. The men did not want to expend their lives in a suicide attack."

As he had been speaking, L had also been typing away at his computer. A and B were staring at him with identical expressions of incredulity. They were stunned to think that such an act had been carried out by such a small group of men seeking access to vengeance. They were obviously unstable if they thought that further acts of violence, the deaths of innocent people were necessary, just for the highly unlikely chance that war would break out again, so they could go and deal with the people responsible for their grief. It was a highly selfish act.

L paused for a moment, letting his words sink in, his hand hovering over the mouse. "Would you like to see the proof of my claims inspector?"

"O-of course" the man stuttered out uncertainly.

L clicked his mouse. "In that case, a file containing all you need to see to believe my hypothesis will be with you shortly. You can be assured it will have no problem making its way past your security. And it's very well referenced so you can check up on anything you suspect I may be being dishonest about. You wouldn't be a very good inspector if you trusted me straight away after all."

"Nor would I be a very good inspector if I didn't think you wanted something in return. Surely you seek some reward should the information you have provided us with prove true."

"For this case, and this case alone, I seek no payment. You did not ask for my assistance, nor have I contacted you in advance offering my support, so I will ask for no payment. But I do have a few small requests to make. Firstly, that you make no attempts to trace my real identity, you are unlikely to succeed so you shouldn't bother wasting resources on trying. Secondly, I would like my involvement to remain hidden from the press, something that you will surely agree with. Thirdly, and this may less agreeable, I would like all the policing bodies you have been in contact with on this case to be informed that you were assisted by L. I am seeking to work globally with the police on other cases of such a large scale, ones that the police would find difficult to solve speedily on their own. I would also hope that you would consider contacting me yourselves should any such case arise in the future. You may pass on the contact details that are enclosed in the evidence file I have sent you."

"Oh… and I might leave you with a word of advice. Please update your security system. I won't promise I won't get in again, but at least next time I'd like more of a challenge."

The inspector sighed at L's last comment, and Watari glanced at the young detective in warning. It wasn't a good idea to play with these people. L waved his hand dismissively. He knew what he was doing. These people really did need to fix their security. He had been appalled at how easy he'd found it to get in.

"Uh… I suppose we can do that" said the inspector. "Your data has started coming through…" the inspector paused. Those sitting before the phone heard a brief exchange in the background as the inspector spoke with a colleague. They just made out a 'how the hell was he able to send it to _my _computer_'. _B giggled softly, and L shushed him as the inspector spoke to him once more. "Well… it looks sound, but we'll have to check it more thoroughly before we can decide anything. Is it ok if we get back to you after we've had a better look?"

"Of course inspector, I am looking forward to see how you act on my information."

"In that case, L, I'll bid you a pleasant evening."

"Thank you inspector; the same to yourself and your team."

And with that, the conversation ended. L delicately replaced the phone, and shifted to look at the others. B launched himself at the detective, barely giving the older boy time to raise his arms to catch the younger one to prevent their heads colliding painfully.

"Wow L! That was amazing! I can't wait 'til I get to be you." He said, as he pushed L's knees down and sat in his lap, his eyes sparkling up at the older boys face. Hesitantly, L reached out and ruffled the ten year old's hair.

"It wasn't that hard." said L. "I can't understand why they couldn't figure it out themselves. And anyway, we still need to see what they do with information I sent them before we can assume anything."

"But L," interjected A as he stood beside the other two. "We were gonna bake you a celebratory cake for solving your first official case."

L stared up at A; it seemed as though all logical thought had stopped, or at least slowed considerably at the mention of cake. "Well… in that case, I suppose it wouldn't hurt to celebrate just a little."

B sprung up and grabbed A's hand. "Come on A, let's go bake a cake!" he started to tug the other out of the room.

"Don't make too much mess boys" said Watari. "Right L, I hope you don't think I'm going to let you go and celebrate until this room is a bit tidier. You want it nice and organised for your next case."

L sighed, and poked at a pile of sweet wrappers with his foot. As B left the room he looked back over his shoulder, eyeing L, who was facing the other way, and L's assorted detective gear hungrily. He wanted to be L, more than anything else in the world. A felt him hesitate, but didn't think much of it.

"Come on B, I need someone to make sure we put the right amount of jam in middle of the cake, and you're the resident expert."

B turned away from the sight of the detective, allowing his eager smile to take over his face once more, as he pulled A hurriedly towards the kitchen.

* * *

In the shinigami realm, Natrat had insisted Ryuk relay the entire case to him, so they were both looking down on L and the others at this time.

"Wow," said Ryuk. "I don't think I've ever heard that L guy say that much _ever_."

"I suppose he's not as talkative as some humans," grumbled Natrat, more interested in Beyond's reaction. "So… what's Beyond doing now?"

"He's in the kitchen, baking a cake with the other one. Tch… they should be celebrating properly, with _apple pie_ like they made that one time. That looked so good I wanted to fly down and try some myself. But man, that expression on the kid's face as they left that room."

"What expression?"

"Beyond… he looked at that room like I'd look at fresh baked apple pie. I think he wants that title more than he lets on. I think he'd go to any lengths to prove himself worthy."

Natrat shrugged, ignoring the other shinigami's implications. Of course Beyond wanted to gain L's title. It was completely healthy competiveness combined with a desire to help others. There was nothing sinister about it, he was sure Ryuk said that just to rile him, so he didn't bother responding to it.

* * *

(1) I had to do some research for this, since I was 5 and thus I don't remember anything about computers from 1993. The World Wide Web was launched in 1993 and internet access became commercially available. I'm sure L would have found it very useful for receiving data anonymously. I'm pretty sure he would have been an extremely efficient programmer and used his computer for processing large chunks of data. And yes, I'm pretty sure he could email too…

(2) Well… obviously I did a little research on the Metropolitan Police. Their database is known as HOLMES. Thus, by referring to the famous fictional detective, L is implying he got into their system. I have no idea when this database was set up, or its hackability. But in _this_ universe I'm temporarily making the rules, so I say yes, this is the system and yes, L hacked into it.


	15. Chapter 15

AN: It's been a while, and I guess I was either stuck, or subconsciously reluctant, when I came to writing this chapter. But eventually I figured out what I was doing... Let me apologise in advance for the 'educational content', as a biology student I couldn't resist, but I tried to keep it to a minimum.

Disclaimer: I don't own Death Note, or Another Note.

Just as a note, this is... almost three years after the last chapter... I'm allowed to timeskip.

* * *

B sat on his bed and stared at the door angrily. He refused to come out, he didn't care what they said, what they promised or threatened. He was determined to stay in here sulking for as long as he deemed necessary

It was _his_ birthday after all, and his birthday was supposed to be important (all family name references aside). What was important was that L had said, no, he had _promised_ he'd come back to Whammy's to celebrate it. And was he here? No, he was not. Thus, Beyond felt he had every right to sulk.

Surely _his_ thirteenth birthday was more important than catching some serial killer over in LA. Apparently not. He didn't see why L had to be out of the country, and over in America, it wasn't as if he would be needed on scene.

He hadn't seen L in seven months, and he had been looking forward to catching up.

And, on top of that, as if to add insult to injury, the evening before two new orphans had arrived. Two African children, about twelve years old, who had introduced themselves in perfect, well mannered English, as X and Z. They were a boy and girl, twins by the look of it. Beyond could read their names though, and could tell they were at least related. The girl was Zakiya and the boy was Zahir, but Beyond didn't take much interest beyond that.

They were apparently going to be joining A and B as potential successors to the title of L. Watari and L had allegedly come across them whilst working on a case, where their parents had been among the victims. They'd apparently proved their worth by providing some information and associated logic that had lead to the arrest of the culprit.

A was a little put out, but B, despite acting friendly during their brief meeting the evening before, was actually livid that someone was trying to take his place.

Therefore, he was spending his thirteenth birthday sulking in his room, whilst A sat outside the locked door, trying to talk him out. Roger, who was now more or less running the orphanage, since Watari was now permanently travelling with L, had tried to get in by using the master key, but B, highly protective of his own privacy, had long since taken measures to prevent such an intrusion.

However, Beyond was growing bored of sulking, his genius mind unable to stick to something so mundane for any length of time. Something needed to be done; he needed some other method of expressing his displeasure with the situation, one that would leave him less bored.

He was not going to 'confide' in A, nor was he going to cry on his shoulder, he didn't understand why the other was offering such a thing. Yes, he was his friend, but the other boy wasn't going to be around for that much longer, and B… well., he'd come to the decision whilst sulking that morning, that perhaps it would be a good idea to start distancing himself from the other. That way, when A's time came, whatever the cause, B would feel less pain. He wanted to protect himself.

As his patience finally snapped, B made his decision. He stood and made his way stealthily around the room, stuffing a few things into a bag, before climbing out the window, and making his way down to ground level via the drainpipe. Once he was safely grounded, he donned his shoes; it had been easier to scale the wall barefoot. He was free, and no one knew he was gone. He set off on the long walk into town, hoping that once there he would figure out some way of venting his frustration.

* * *

Some hours later Beyond had returned to the house. It seemed no one had noticed his absence, although his viewpoint was limited as he had yet to unlock his door and step outside. If A was still outside his room, he was being very quiet. Not that it mattered, his determination was set, and he was going to do this.

His logic ran thus:

Beyond was one of a select few (if a slightly larger few than this time yesterday) that had been handpicked to train for the possibility of succeeding L's title.

L was 'the world's greatest detective', a powerful force of Justice, recognised world wide.

Beyond wanted to be Justice. He wanted to help others; it was what he'd promised his parents, but was something he'd wanted even before then.

Beyond knew he was capable of doing so, succeeding L would give him the perfect position.

L had been his hero for the past 5 years. But B was beginning to see L wasn't the perfect individual he'd initially thought him to be.

Beyond was sure he could do a better job if he were L.

But there were other's that wanted the role. Obviously he wasn't yet worthy of L's sole attention, of being the only possible candidate.

He wanted that attention. He wanted to be L's only successor.

But how could he get L's attention in this manner?

Well, the answer was to make himself a more obvious choice for the next L. He had to be more like L. and perhaps L's desired attributes weren't solely intellectual.

This was why, on returning to his room, he ripped off his shirt, and headed straight into the bathroom with his shopping. He'd show L that he was the most 'L-like', the most capable of being his successor.

* * *

Some time later, Beyond finally decided he was happy with his appearance. Sure, he hadn't managed to magically grow six inches taller, or change the bone structure of his face or the colour of his eyes, but to the untrained eye, the resemblance was close enough.

It was late, and he was hungry, having only paused briefly to grab a snack whilst in town earlier. He paced up and down his room for a few moments, thinking himself into character. Then he made his way out of his room and down into the kitchen.

A was no longer lurking outside his room. Apparently he'd long since given up on dragging B out of his room, for today at least. The hallways were deserted, except for one or two of the younger children, who showed no interest, nor recognition, in B and his barefooted, slouching gait.

Once there, he went straight to the fridge, and cut himself a slice of his own, untouched, birthday cake. He slathered one side of the slice with extra jam, and then added some whipped cream to the top 'for character'. He assumed the right pose on a kitchen chair and commenced consumption, making sure to maintain his delicate grip on his spoon. He was hoping he would be discovered.

He was not disappointed.

Merely a minute after he'd started eating, the kitchen door opened, and A entered the kitchen, staring disbelievingly at the sight.

"L?" he said confusedly.

Despite his desire to stay in character, B couldn't help but laugh a little at that. Seems his mimicry was better than he'd thought if even A was initially deceived.

A paused for a moment, his eyes taking in the jam jar on the counter, and then he turned, meeting a pair of dark red eyes, which glittered dangerously, hinting at some dark emotion within.

"B? What have you done?" he said, distress evident in his voice.

"I'm going to be L," said B, allowing a grin on his face. Unnerving A was fun. "And if I'm going to be L, I need to start practicing." To emphasise this point, he reached for the sugar bowl and plucked out a sugar cube, admiring it momentarily as he held it between finger and thumb, his elbow jutting out to the side awkwardly. He allowed his gaze to move to A, and meeting his eyes he took the sugar into his mouth. Then he offered an imitation L smile to the other boy.

Sufficiently unnerved, A backed towards the door. "I'm going to bed" he said as he fled the room.

* * *

A had only gone down to the kitchen to fetch some food for B. Even if the younger boy was refusing to come out of his room, he still needed to eat. A had been planning to inform B and then leave a plate of something outside his door. He'd been worried for him, he'd wanted to make sure he was alright; wanted to make him feel better about the newcomers and about L not being here. Even if L wasn't here, A _was_, and wasn't A his friend too? He'd been saddened by the fact that he hadn't been able to comfort B, that B had ignored him.

It seemed B had rejected him, and found his own way to deal with the issue.

A didn't like it. A was now even more worried about B than he had been before.

In times gone past, A had always been amused when the younger boy would imitate their mentor. It had been a game, he'd been sure of it, that B was mimicking L's strange habits for his own amusement. When L had started travelling for cases, prior to his 'debut' and L, B's impersonation of L had suddenly and dramatically increased, both in frequency, and in the level of impression. This had initially intimidated A, though he'd quickly grown accustomed to it. He'd just assumed it was B's way of coping with L not being there as much.

This, however, was taking it _too_ far. The imitation was too close to the original. It was no longer a parody, it was more than that. B had changed every aspect of his physical appearance that he could. His red-brown hair had been dyed black, gelled into place, and then seemingly hacked at with whatever had been at hand, to sculpt it into something that more closely resembled the mess that sat upon the head of L. His face too was changed, B had applied make-up, whitening his skin, and applying dark smudges below his eyes to imitate the insomniac.

The change in B was dramatic. A had always considered the younger boy to be cheerful, and light-hearted for the most part, but the B he'd just run into in the kitchen was not the same B he'd thought he'd known. Though his act was that of L, and was practically flawless, A could sense the difference, perhaps due to having known both of them for a long time. Beneath the perfect exterior, A could sense B's malevolent feelings, perhaps they had shown in his eyes. All A knew was that when he had looked into B's eyes, he couldn't recognise his friend. B had seemed… predatory, as if he would readily devour A, should he deem it necessary for his survival or success.

This act… it was as if by imitating L, he was allowing more of his true personality to show. It was like declaring that the boy A had thought he had know for the past five years, had merely been an act, put on as a whim, to lure others closer. It scared A to think he didn't know B as well as he thought he did.

Mimicry was something A had read a lot about. It was an interesting topic. He first stumbled across it when studying con-artists, people who pretended to be something or someone, or offered something non-existent, tricking another individual or a group into their confidence for personal gain. Many animal species also used similar tricks.

The more well known mimics were those which did so for their own protection, by having the same colour markings, or occasionally the same smell, as a more dangerous species, i.e.: behaving as a sheep in wolf's clothing to prevent being the victim of a predator. This approach was common in insects, especially butterflies, and in snakes.

The other types of mimics were the aggressive mimics, the con-artists of the animal world. These were predatory species, which captured their prey by appearing harmless, either by imitating the host species itself, or another, non-threatening or even beneficial species.

A wasn't quite sure how to define this mimicry from B. It had seemed an aggressive act, perhaps designed to attract the attention of L, make him seem like a more suitable heir. Well… B had always been the attention seeking type; it was possible that this was simply a new method of doing so. A personally thought that B's attention seeking had been one of the things that had made him unsuitable for L's role. B liked to be the centre of attention, whilst L lurked in the shadows. There was still time for him to grow out of it though.

Perhaps though, it was defensive. Given B's earlier behaviour, he'd seemed very upset, specifically with L, and possibly towards the newcomers as well. He was definitely hurt, and this was a way of lashing out, perhaps to protect himself from being cast aside. He didn't want L to see him as insignificant. It might have simply been a way of coping with the detective's absence, like before, but A was certain there was more to it than that.

Either way it came down to L. Perhaps B was more obsessed with that title than he let on.

A didn't know how to help. This new B was unfamiliar. The usual warmth he showed A had been missing, he'd seemed hostile. Nevertheless, A wasn't going to give up on his best friend just yet…

* * *

"Hyuk, hyuk!" was Ryuk's reaction to this latest development in the human world, "Would ya look at that! Human's really are interesting!"

"Well… I'd love to look" commented Natrat dryly, "but that would defeat the purpose of you being here, wouldn't it."

"Turn of phrase, Natty, nothing more" said Ryuk, in an obscure apology. "The kid… well… he's made himself look like that other guy, the detective."

"L?" queried Natrat, though he received no intelligent reply from the other shinigami, who had returned to laughing away beside him. So, he was imitating his idol? Surely that was a good sign… humans were said to learn through imitation after all. This would simply mean he would be a better detective in the end. He didn't understand why Ryuk found it quite so amusing, and it certainly wasn't anything to worry about. Probably.


	16. Chapter 16

**A/N:** Wow, it's been a very long time since I posted anything on FF, but I've been busy. Now that I've finally handed in my project, I can take some time to update before I start revising for my exams next week.

Not a great deal to say about this chapter, except Beyond isn't in it...

Please read and review... I'd really like some feedback on what people think of how this is progressing.

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Death Note.

* * *

The weeks following B's birthday were awkward at best for A, who found his friend to be increasingly antisocial. He rarely spoke to A unless the situation demanded it, and kept to his own room for the most part. A wondered where his friend's every-cheery demeanour had disappeared to, since it seemed to have vanished just as easily as the new one had appeared. Had A's adorable 'little brother' just been another act, one that B had put on since he'd arrived at Whammy's? A found that hard to believe; but then, the other boy _was_ a genius.

In B's absence A was trying to compensate by getting friendly with the newbies. X and Z… well apparently it seemed that they'd never met L personally, and thus B's sudden image change meant nothing to them, and neither A nor B were planning to inform them. L's identity was _his_ secret and it was down to his sole discretion as to whom it was revealed. If L hadn't allowed them to know his face, they were not going to spoil that.

X and Z were fairly quiet individuals, though that may merely have been a side effect of adjusting to not just a new environment in a new country, but also to communicating in English as opposed to their native tongue. They still used that to communicate with each other though, holding conversations that A could not follow, as if exchanging secrets in his presence, which could well have been the truth for all he knew. He could understand wanting to cling on to their first language, it and each other were about all they had left of home in their new environment, especially sine they'd been stripped of even their own names.

Despite this, they still provided better conversation than the hostile silence that was all that was offered by B. He may have been imitating L, but this was one area where he wouldn't compensate his own whims, since L had been just as friendly with A as he had been with B. Well, that was unless it was supposed to be some sort of statement about the continued absence of communication from the detective. There seemed to be a deeper meaning to it than that though, it was definitely B's behaviour as opposed to L's. A wondered what it was he had done that would elicit this sort of behaviour from B.

He resigned himself to attempting to befriend the newcomers, maybe B would get jealous and start speaking to him again. At any rate, he didn't think it could make the situation between them any worse.

Still, he remained cautious when communicating with them, revealing as little of himself as possible, and they gave little of themselves in return. Which was proper- this was Whammy's House- your identity and any clues that might lead to it, were your most closely guarded secrets. He also kept quiet about L, and, when it became clear that they hadn't really been informed of why they were here, he also didn't tell them the true purpose of the house. They didn't need to know that Watari was Mr. Whammy, the founder of the orphanage. They knew nothing of the fact that they were here to train to potentially succeed L's title, along with A and B.

They believed L had sent them here because this was the best orphanage for their apparent intellects, and that they had been placed in A and B's 'advanced classes' because they had displayed deductive prowess and might benefit from them.

This surprised A. he and B had been informed of their purpose when the invitation to attend the orphanage had been extended. The situation had been different then he supposed. L hadn't yet become an internationally renowned detective, had merely been in training himself, waiting for his own debut. The house had only just opened, and A and B were the first inhabitants. They had needed more information before they would willingly leave the orphanages in which they were already established. With the new pair, they were recently orphaned, they hadn't been settled in anywhere, and with their parent's deaths they were effectively homeless. They were being offered a chance in a country with a much higher standard of life. A was sure they'd jumped at the chance without the need for further details.

So, they hadn't _needed_ it… he still wasn't quite sure why they hadn't been told, they had been here nearly a month already. Perhaps L was enforcing a trial period, and they would be informed following that if they had proved trustworthy. After all, records in their home country were probably not brilliant, and their pasts were uncertain. L was probably right not to trust them.

A wished this weren't so. He wanted someone to talk freely to, to help him figure out how to deal with B, but due to the nature of his position, there was no one he could safely confide in.

* * *

The trouble started a little over a month after the arrival of the newcomers, when the results of a routine testing of the house inhabitants was made, and their scores were stored in hidden, mostly inaccessible files for reference and security reasons. This test always placed A and B at the top of the rankings, their rightful positions, closely matched, and frequently swapping the number one spot, generally separated by less than one percent. A was interested to see where the newcomers would place.

The first thing he discovered when he hacked the Whammy's House database and looked up the latest test scores were the results of himself and B. B had taken the number one spot this time and A was in second place. Nothing unusual about that. What was unusual was the fact that the gap between their scores was a lot wider than usual. B had outdone himself, achieving a score that was his highest thus far. A had merely achieved a score that was slightly below his average, and the pair were separated by a significant margin of five and a half percent.

Well… apparently B had been putting his spare time to good use. The time he normally spent talking or whatever with A, he had been using to study. A, admittedly, had not done the same, wasting his time trying to befriend X and Z, and moping over B. he'd also been sleeping badly which probably didn't help.

This was disappointing, but not entirely unexpected, given the situation. He moved on, going to look up the scores of the new arrivals.

What he found was surprising. According to the reasoning behind sending the here, there should have scored very highly, and were expected to be up there with A and B at the top of the table, presumably taking third and fourth places.

They were not there at the top of the lists.

Instead A found them much further down, in the lower half of the list. So yes, they were smart, and worthy of Whammy's House, but they were not genius calibre. They were not good enough to be considered for succeeding L.

There was no point making the excuse that it was a language issue since the pair spoke perfect English, and the test hardly required your English to be that great and the fact that it was their second language would have been taken into account.

… Perhaps they only reached genius level when they worked together. After all their highest scores had been in different areas, so together they might have scored better.

Still, it was strange. If they weren't truly super-geniuses, how had they helped L solve that case? Surely it had been more than just local knowledge since the local police force had that. A wanted to ask, to find out what had happened, but because it was connected to their identities that course of action was prohibited. This did not mute his suspicions.

Perhaps this was an opportunity to exercise his detective skills and find out for himself. At least it would give him something to do to take his mind off the ongoing situation with B.

* * *

One week after that, A had tracked down all of the information on L's African case as he could. Of course, all official publications had kept quiet about the involvement of the secretive detective, but the scale of the case, and an estimate of the timeframe had helped A to narrow it down. None of the reports mentioned the two orphans currently housed at Whammy's, but given the nature of the crimes, this was for their protection

The murders were all of the same type. The victims were all of large, wealthy families, from across the country, and in each case all members of the household present had been killed, including children, and any staff the household possessed. There had been few witnesses, the victims had all lived on isolated estates, and the witnesses that did exist had been entirely unhelpful.

Other than being wealthy, the victims had had little in common, so it appeared the crimes had been money motivated, and, eventually, it was discovered that valuables had been stolen from each of the houses. Of course with no survivors around to attest to what was missing, this had taken a while to uncover.

The culprits had been tracked down after 'an anonymous source' had pointed out the missing footage from the computer controlled security systems that were installed at each of the houses. This 'source' had traced the cause of the gap to a house on the outskirts of the country's capital. A presumed this source was the orphans, as if it were L, the finding would have been attributed to the police. If X and Z had lived at one of these houses, then they would have known of the existence of the security system, and may have had some understanding of how it functioned.

Why the police hadn't known, and hadn't informed L, A didn't know and the reports didn't say. Generic incompetence perhaps? The technology was still fairly rare in that area, perhaps the police hadn't known to look for it.

Nevertheless, this 'source' had been the key to the solution of the case. The address had been tracked, and with some very complex and delicate police work, that A supposed L had directed, the culprits had been arrested.

L's achievement was not limited to that. It seemed the motivation behind the crime was indeed the large sums of money involved, and the stolen valuables had been sold abroad, far away from the eyes looking out for them. The profits were being used to fund a combined drug and weapons ring, one which the police had suspected to have originated recently, but had been unsuccessful in tracking down. With L's assistance the entire group, including all the founding members, had been arrested, largely due to the data L had extracted from the computers seized from the city centre address.

A had uncovered the most interesting thing when he'd looked into the victims in greater detail. He'd looked deeper, in an attempt to find out exactly where X and Z came into the situation, since they were the ones that A was suspicious of. So it was likely that in his digging deep, in the records of the families and mentions of them in the press, he had actually discovered more about them than L knew, He'd had trouble finding anything on the pair in connection with _any_ of the victims.

What he had discovered, much to his surprise, was that one of the family's, had, in the past, hired the services of one Eraldo Coil, another detective of international renown, to help settle a money issue, and he had been highly paid for his services. The presence of another detective of this caliber being involved with one of the families had aroused A's interest, and he had tried to find more details of this case.

Tracking somebody as intelligent and wily as Coil, was a difficult challenge, but when A discovered that Coil had been working on another case, in the area, at the same time as L had, A knew something was up. It also seemed that there were rumors that Coil, and Denueve, another detective similar cailber, had shown interest in uncovering the identity of L, the upstart who was moving in on their territory, taking their cases.

These rumours combined with the fact that A had still failed to come across a pair of children of the right age, made A very suspicious about whether these children were actually related to the victims. Their appearance, after L had become involved in the case, made A wonder whether they had perhaps been sent in the hope that L would take an interest.

Perhaps X and Z were spies, sent by Coil, to investigate L.

If that were the case, the fact that they were here, at Whammy's, was a major threat to the system, and to L.


End file.
